Shimmering Heat Wave
by completeopposites
Summary: Its got the Muppets, Pillow Fights, Big Spender, Random quotes from gov't class and other films, Canadian Water, Chocolate Milk and more! What more could you ask for?! Please read and review!
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: As much as we would like to, we unfortunately do not own Newsies, ::tear:: but we do own all original characters. We also quote somethings in here without acknowledging who they belong to (sorry) but we give them all the credit.   
  
So....um....yeah....read and enjoy (nice reviews are fun too :))  
Chapter 1  
  
Well it was the last day of school, and since it was the last day of school, none of us decided to show up. Melanie, Amanda, and I took off in my jeep to New York City. Melanie is one of the "Newsie" obsessed and wanted to see the sites, the bridge, the street where they lived, the square where they danced, you know where everything took place. We decided to go on this trip because Melanie had finally come up with gas money. Her fundraising went really well. So we were on the highway to New York City.  
  
"It's hot Robyn!!!" Amanda whined from the passenger side of the car. "Can we go find air conditioning?!?!?!?"  
  
"Well you know Amanda, if you hadn't turned it on full blast when we got in the car, it wouldn't be broken right now," Melanie informed her from the backseat.  
  
I just rolled my eyes. In the driver's seat I could ignore their bantering, but that didn't mean they were quiet. "Hey guys, only an hour to go!" Groans all around.  
  
"I've got to go potty," Mel said.  
  
Amanda swiveled in her seat, "well, you know, if you hadn't drunk my last bottle of Canadian water-"  
  
I turned the music up louder, Love Shack by the B-52s, and concentrated on the very interesting stretch of road in front of us. We all began singing at the top of our lungs.  
*****  
An hour later, we hit traffic just before the "Welcome to New York" sign. I hadn't stopped, refusing all offers of bribery because I wanted to get there.  
  
"But we're so close!" said Melanie. I agreed and we pulled over to a 7 –11. Melanie ran for the bathroom. Amanda pulled out her wallet and went in search of nachos and a pretzel, and I purchased a pack of gum. After Melanie came out of the bathroom, she bought a bottle of Canadian water for Amanda. We all met back by the car where I informed Amanda that the nachos and cheese were not going in my car. She promised to eat them really quick. Melanie laughed behind her hand. I grabbed the map from the trunk and spread it on the hood.  
  
"Alright Mel, I think we're here." I pointed to an obscure point on the map.  
  
She came over, "that's nice but we need to be over here," flipping the map to the enlarged section of New York City.  
  
"That's fine. How do we get there?" She gave me a blank look.  
  
Amanda came up behind us and said, "in the car." Mel and I sighed.  
  
"Here's your Canadian water." Melanie handed her the bottle and turned to me. Using her finger, she traced interstate-95 on the map to New York City. "Right there looks good."  
  
I spiffily folded the map in record time. "Let's get out of here then," I said. We jumped into the jeep and headed for the highway.  
*****  
"NEW YORK!!!!!!!!!" screamed Mel, jumping out of her seat.  
  
"I can't see out the window," I warned, "sit your butt down."  
  
We were at the city and had passed the Statue of Liberty. Now we were looking at the Empire State Building. I was concentrating on the road and Amanda was fiddling with the radio, which on just about every station was complaining about the heat wave.  
  
"See," she said triumphantly, "it's not just me." I had to admit that she was wearing the most clothes out of all of us. I had on blue jean shorts and my black T-shirt that has a really cool dragon on it, Mel was wearing a short khaki skirt and a light green halter top, and Amanda had on dark blue jean capris and a purple short sleeved shirt. The capris sent me into laughter again.  
  
"You should've been dressed for the weather."   
  
Amanda glared at me and turned the radio off. She looked out the window. "Look at that shimmery mirage! Wow! The heat waves are really rolling off the streets and into the air." She had a point; they were extremely visible. But since they didn't affect my supreme driving skills, I wasn't worried one bit. 


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2   
  
And that's when we landed on the roof. With a *THUNK* and some "crucial" whiplash we settled to a stop. I looked in the back seat and Mel was unconscious. I sighed, "oh goody." Amanda was slightly dazed and confused, but the normality of it didn't worry me at all.   
  
She turned to me, "on a roof Robyn? That's a new one."   
  
I have supreme driving skills, roofs are possible, and I told her so.   
  
"That's wonderful Robyn. But how are we going to get down?"   
  
"Do we really need to? Mel's non-functional in the back seat. We probably shouldn't move her. And I don't know where we are."   
  
"New York?"   
  
"Perhaps, but I need definite proof before I move the wheels." We heard a scrambling on the roof and saw two shadows, one short, one taller. And they were walking towards us with confused expressions on their faces."   
  
"Who goes there?!?!"   
  
I groaned, a squeaky little voice, the thrills. I hate small children. They're monkeys.   
  
Amanda cowered in her seat. I turned on my headlights because although we started out in daylight, it was swiftly becoming nighttime. And the two shadows became people running for cover.   
  
I turned to Amanda. "Either they're after us or they think we're after them. Could you go check that out for me please?"   
  
"Whatever. No."   
  
"Oh. I'll get out and check then."   
  
"Sounds good." I stepped outside and walked over to their hiding place. They peered out at me. One of them looked oddly familiar; she was thin, of average height, had long straight dark brown hair and light brown eyes..   
  
"LAURA! Did you go through the heat wave thing too?"   
  
"What? How do you know my name?"   
  
The freckle-faced little kid peered at us from behind her.   
  
"Why are you dressed funny. And where are we?" I asked.   
  
"New York, and you ought to take a look in the mirror. Why so much leg? You have no skirts. You're not from around here, are you?"   
  
I ran back to the car. "We're not in Kansas anymore Toto!"   
  
Amanda gave me a puzzled look and replied, "great. We might want to get Melanie to someplace where there's medical people."   
  
"But I don't know where we are except New York and Laura is here, but from a different era and with some kid."   
  
Amanda sat up and got out of the car. "We need someone to help with Melanie. We'll worry about everything else later."   
  
I agreed. Both of us walked back over to Laura and the kid. "We have a third person in the car."   
  
"Car?"   
  
"Yeah, that thing," I pointed to the jeep, "but more importantly about the third person in the car is that she needs to be seen by a doctor."   
  
Laura nodded in understanding. "We'll carry her downstairs. Jack'll know what to do."   
  
We carried her out of the car. I quickly locked all the doors, just in case. Carefully, we went down the fire escape and put her through the window.   
  
Amanda looked inside, "hey they're the people from that movie!" she shouted excitedly. I laughed and rolled my eyes.   
  
Laura called in, "make room on the table." Amanda pushed through the crowd and swiped the cards off the table.   
  
"Hey lady, in the middle of a card game here," said a dark haired kid with a cigar. Other protests followed his and Laura was thoroughly frustrated.   
  
"Come on, work with me, Racetrack." They all moved and Melanie was placed on the table.   
  
I checked her breathing and everything, former Girl Scout, and she was basically just sleeping. "We just have to wait until she wakes up."   
  
"Do you think we could move her off the table?" Racetrack asked slightly annoyed. "I was about to win the poker game!"   
Everyone laughed. "Lily, its like this. Poker is a lifetime achievement and I need to practice."   
  
Amanda was standing off to the side and she piped up with this, "Maybe they'll give you an award before you die for loosing the most games, now that's a lifetime achievement." More laughter was heard.   
  
Another guy at the table spoke up, "who are you?" He was sitting next to a girl with long brown hair and wearing a pink dress. I had been doing a lot of thinking. Just enough to get by, and my thinking was leading me to believe that only one conclusion was possible. We were with the newsies, the ones from the movie. Oh Mel was gonna freak.   
  
"I want to know who you all are first." She was staring intently at him and I felt the need to smack her.   
  
"Maybe it should be a mutual exchange. I'm Jack Kelly or Cowboy. This is me girl, Sarah." I could see Amanda wince. That was ok, I didn't like her either.   
  
Amanda asked, "Do you fall off your horse much?" There was much muffled laughter until Jack glowered at everyone. She leaned against the wall. "Well my name is Amanda, call me Curly." She gestured to me, "this is Robyn, but call her Raven, she'll like ya much better." She pointed to the unconscious Mel, "and this is Melanie, she doesn't really have a nickname."   
  
I spoke up, "just so we're all on base here, this is New York, 1900, you all are newsies, and we time-traveled or something."   
They looked at me funny.   
  
"Yeah!" continued Amanda, "We went through some shimmery heat wave thing and Robyn landed us on your roof. I apologize if it caves in."   
  
During the silence that followed, Melanie began to stir. She was singing softly, "moving right along doog-a-doon, doog-a-doon. We'll learn to share the load. We don't need a map to keep this show on the road."   
  
Amanda said to me, "I think it was the map that got us in trouble."   
  
Melanie opened her eyes and screamed. "Oh yeah Mel, by the way, we're in New York, 1900, newsies…" Mel screamed again. I think it was a happy thing. I laughed.   
  
Laura took control of the room. "Alright we need some information. So share your stories."   
  
"And get off the table," Racetrack finished.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3   
  
Mel, awake, told the story, for the most part. I think they understood it all. I took the opportunity to look around and figure out who was in the room. We had Jack and Sarah, Racetrack, and the little kid must be Les. Kid Blink was next to Racetrack with Boots next to him. Mel's table was in the middle of the room and everyone was gathered around it on various beds. Amanda and I were next to the window in the corner. Sitting near me was Crutchy, Snoddy, Dutchy, and goodness I couldn't remember his name, but he was cute. But they were all concentrating on Melanie's story, I think, or possibly the amount of leg she was showing. I couldn't tell.   
  
"They're staring at her legs," Amanda clarified.   
  
"I thought so. Perverts."   
  
"Chauvinistic Pigs."   
  
By this time Melanie was finished, and yawning. Two people had come in the door in the interim, a curly brown haired muscular guy with his arm around a petite blonde haired blue eyed girl's waist.   
  
Melanie looked toward the door. "TINA!"   
  
The girl stepped back. The guy was Mush, and I had to admit the girl did look a lot like Tina. "That's my name, but how did you know?" Tina asked.   
  
"Psychic."   
  
Amanda looked at me. "Really?" Mel was laughing, still perched on the table.   
  
"My name is Mush and her name's Sniffles," interjected Mush.   
  
I couldn't help it, I burst out laughing. "Sniffles?"   
  
"I always have a cold," she responded indignantly. The couple moved away from the doorway.   
  
Racetrack took this opportunity to push Mel off the table into the guy coming in. It would've been funny except she turned bright red, and I saw that it was the infamous Spot Conlon. Man, this was getting better and better, but he still had that hat on!   
  
"Hi," he said with a concerned look on his face as he helped her up.   
  
"Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry. See it's all Racetrack's fault. He pushed me off and and…" Mel rambled on.   
  
I asked Laura, I mean, Lily, to give us background information. She told Amanda and I, "well basically Pulitzer, owner of the papes we sell, decided to raise the distribution price of the papers from 50 to 60 cents. The Newsies didn't like that so they went on strike, ended up getting support from the Newsies all over New York and lots of the sweat shop kids. The Newsies won. Now we are trying to help the kids at Sniffles' and I's old factory."   
  
"So is that how you two got here?" I asked trying to clarify the situation.   
  
"Yes. Sniffles broke her arm and was no use to the factory anymore so they booted her. I decided to quit the factory job and help her since neither of us have any family to help support, so we became Newsies," she answered.   
  
Amanda yawned as she moved towards the beds. "Can we go sleep? Are there any beds we can use?"   
  
Spot had left again with Jack, Sarah, Les, and Bumlets, oh yeah, that's his name. Melanie was talking to Mush and Sniffles about something, probably filling them in on what they had missed, for the most part, I mean considering the fact that she was unconscious for part of it.   
  
I was feeling tired too. "Yeah we can get our stuff later. We'll just climb back up tomorrow and get our clothes and stuff. I know that Melanie will want to stay here a while."   
  
"You'll have to start selling papes to make a living. Not tomorrow necessarily, but the day after. Room and board ain't free you know," Lily informed us.   
  
Tina, I mean Sniffles, appeared on Lily's left. "She's right. But until then, you can rest in the next room. Just pick a bed and get some sleep."   
  
"Thanks. We appreciate it." Amanda and I made our way over to Melanie. "We're going to lay down because we weren't unconscious for a while there."   
  
Mel glared at us. "Look hun, I'm not the one with the "supreme" driving skills that got us on a roof."   
  
"You're right. I got you here." It was funny, I laughed.   
  
"I think I'll go to bed too. Thanks. Goodnight everybody!" But everyone was playing poker and not paying attention to us.   
Melanie made a face at them. Kid Blink happened to look up, but only saw Melanie whistling innocently. Amanda and I were already asleep in beds. I assume Melanie followed.   
*****   
Three hours later, I heard a scream from Amanda's bed. Then I heard a male voice yelling. Then I heard another female scream; and then the lights blasted on.   
  
"$*** Lester, what the F*** is going on?!?!?!?!?!" Amanda yelled. That got my eyes open because I was laughing so hard.   
Melanie was laughing too, but there were three guys that weren't happy and didn't quite get it.   
  
I sat up and looked around. Jack was sitting on the bed with an angry look on his face. Amanda was on the floor with the sheets. Melanie was whacking Spot with her pillow. And Bumlets was by the light switch giving me a quizzical look. The lights went on in the other room too. Lily and Sniffles came running in, saw the situation and started laughing.   
  
"Sorry guys, we just told them to grab beds." Sniffles told the guys.   
  
"Not my bed! I'm quite fond of my bed," cried Jack.   
  
"Well I don't mind if Melanie's in my bed…," replied Spot.   
  
Melanie quickly moved off the bed. "I'm sure you don't, but I do! I'm so sorry. I didn't know this was your bed. You can have it back. I'll sleep on the floor or something." Amanda and I looked at her in disbelief.   
  
Amanda told Jack, "I was here first. You're not getting it back." She was still on the floor.   
  
"Oh yeah?" Jack eyed the bed.   
  
"Yeah."   
  
And the pillows started flying.   
  
Bumlets came over to me in the midst of feathers and told me that I was lying in his bed.   
  
"I'm sorry. Do you want me to move? Whatever you want," I looked at him. He shrugged.   
  
There were shouts of "Pillow Fight!" from the other room. Feathers filled the air. Kloppman came upstairs to figure out what the ruckus was. "You have to sell papes in the morning. Get to bed!" Quickly, everyone situated themselves.   
  
Bumlets let me have his bed. Mel had disappeared with the car keys. Amanda and Jack were still fighting over the bed, but they were being quieter about it. I think they were fighting over the sheet, but then it ripped and all was silent. Bumlets was on the floor with extra sheets and a pillow, and I felt so bad, but he wouldn't let me argue with him. I eventually fell asleep.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4   
  
Amanda and I were so tired we slept through the morning rush to the washroom. Darn! We didn't seem to wake up until around 11. That was when Mush and Sniffles came bounding into the room wondering if we would like to join everyone for lunch at Tibby's.   
  
"Have you seen Melanie?" I asked.   
  
"Not since she disappeared to the roof last night," Sniffles replied.   
  
"Yeah, we'll join you guys as soon as we are ready and have found Melanie," I said.   
  
"Alright, that's fine, we'll see you there then."   
  
It wasn't until after they had left that we realized we hadn't the vaguest clue where Tibby's was.   
  
"Don't worry too much. I'm sure Mel knows where it is," Amanda comforted.   
  
"That's only if we find her first," I pointed out.   
  
We climbed up to the roof because we had to get our stuff anyway and found Melanie asleep in the back seat of the jeep.   
  
"RISE AND SHINE!!!" Amanda yelled.   
  
"Shut up Amanda!!!" Melanie yelled back.   
  
"Well at least she's awake," Amanda said.   
  
"Alright guys lets just get our stuff and go take showers. They want us to meet them at Tibby's for lunch." I voiced.   
  
"But I haven't even had breakfast yet!" Melanie whined sarcastically getting out of the jeep and tossing the keys to me so I could open the trunk. We managed to lug our suitcases into the lodging house and get ourselves ready for what was left of the day.   
  
Melanie somehow got us to Tibby's. With the stares from strangers for the short blue jean shorts and bright colored tank tops we were wearing, we just smiled back as if we were oblivious to how badly we stood out. We were at Tibby's by noon; good timing since it took us forever to figure out how to use the showers and for the hot water to work.   
  
We walked in and said, "hi," to Lily and Sniffles. Amanda meandered over to me. "You thinking what I'm thinking?" She looked over at Spot.   
  
"I think so. Have fun."   
  
Amanda grinned. "Help me out here, will, you?"   
  
I sauntered over to Mel. "Walk with me. I got to go pick up my lunch." She nodded and we went over to the counter. As we walked back Amanda moved into position and elbowed Mel. Mel fell into Spot's lap with a surprised, yet happy look on her face. Taking advantage of a good time, I pushed Amanda into Jack's lap.   
  
"Hey," but Amanda liked it, I could tell. Sarah was not happy. Oh yeah, she was back again. I took my lunch and walked over to where Bumlets was sitting.   
  
He looked up at me. "I'm gonna sit here, ok?" I told him, "but I'll be right back." I set my lunch tray down and went back over to the other table. Amanda had moved off of Jack's lap, but was sitting next to him. Sarah shot her a dirty look, but Amanda just smiled back sweetly. I was pleased to note that Spot was trying to strike up a conversation with Melanie and that she hadn't moved.   
  
The conversation at the table was interesting. Sarah began with, "I have news on the sweat shop."   
  
"Oh good," said Spot, "let's hear it."   
  
"It's not necessarily good," Sarah warned.   
  
Racetrack was anxious, "spit it out already!"   
  
"Apparently five more girls got injured today and two were killed in an accident. The ones who were hurt got fired, like normal, and they buried the two girls in the cemetery behind the factory."   
  
"Well that's just loverly," Melanie said sarcastically.   
  
Amanda interrupted, "I hate to break the bad news portion of our lunch period, but I thought it would be nice if you all introduced yourselves."   
  
Melanie remembered, "Oh yeah."   
  
"Alright then, " said Jack. Sarah leaned on him and glared at Amanda. Maybe she had heard about last night. Jack continued, "well you know me, Sarah, Lily, Sniffles, and Mush. This is Kid Blink, Racetrack, Dutchy, Snoddy,……, Itey, Skittery, Boots, Crutchy, and last, but definitely not least, Spot Conlon, famous leader of the Brooklyn Newsies." He pointed to each as he said their names.   
  
"Hey, I didn't get to learn you ladies' names last night, well except Melanie's," Spot said as he winked at her.   
  
Amanda spoke up. "I'm Amanda, call me Curly." She gestured to me, "This is Robyn, but call her Raven she likes that much better."   
  
"Now that everybody knows everybody," Racetrack said annoyed, "could we please finish the 'bad news portion of our lunch period?"   
  
"Sure," said Amanda.   
  
"Anyways," Sarah said glaring even more at Amanda, "what do we need to do about this, Jack?" She batted her eyelashes at him. Amanda rolled her eyes and looked away disgusted. Melanie pretended to gag; Spot looked up at her, but she just smiled. I think he understood the reasons for their reactions.   
  
"How about we help them in a strike?" asked Kid Blink.   
  
"Do they even want to strike?" I asked.   
  
"Maybe we could get Sniffles and Lily to sneak down there and find out," piped up Mush. The group started planning what they would do. Lily and Sniffles joined them when they heard their names.   
  
By this point I was really hungry so I returned to my lunch and sat down next to Bumlets. We talked for a while and then he had to leave with the rest of the newsies to finish selling his papers.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5   
  
Amanda, Mel, and I decided to go find this Medda to see if she would let put on this little scheme Mel had in mind. We got to Irving Hall and walked inside. We immediately turned around to look for that exit sign that is in the movie. I found it, we were happy.   
  
We seemed to have entered just at the beginning of her show, so we sat down to watch. To be honest it wasn't that entertaining. What was entertaining was that Amanda fell asleep and snored softly, but I about smacked Melanie because she spent the entire show critiquing her. See, Mel was a dancer back in our times and decided it was important to point out all that she did wrong. When the show was over, we managed to get backstage to talk to Medda.   
  
"Hello," Melanie said, "I'm Melanie and I was wondering if you would like to add some flare to your show with maybe a new act?"   
  
"You know I have been thinking about that lately, of adding a new number," Medda replied.   
  
"Great! Unfortunately we haven't quite got something together because we just got here, could we come back in about a week and show you?" Melanie asked.   
  
"Sure, Sure," Medda answered.   
  
"Oh by the way this is my friend Robyn, and this is Amanda," Melanie said.   
  
"Hello, nice to meet you," Medda said.   
  
"So we'll meet you in about a week then?" Melanie confirmed.   
  
"A week it is then."   
  
"Great. Bye!"   
  
We exited the hall out the back entrance. "Alright guys, we've got a week to put together Big Spender! We'll have to ask Lily and Sniffles to join us, but I'm sure they will!" said Melanie excitedly.   
  
"There is no way I am dancing on stage!" Amanda stated defiantly.   
  
"What if I told you that Jack would be watching…" I trailed off.   
  
"What are you implying? Its not that I like him or anything," Amanda protested.   
  
Melanie rolled her eyes. "Yes you do and you know it!"   
  
"But he's taken!" She whined.   
  
"Never stopped you before!" I said.   
  
Melanie and I ran away towards to lodging house laughing with Amanda chasing after us. We were out of breath so Amanda and Melanie began to tell me about the plans to "infiltrate" the factory and get the scoop on what the workers wanted to do. It apparently wasn't supposed to happen until this evening, so we wandered around the streets of New York.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6   
  
Bumlets, Jack, Mush, Kid Blink, Racetrack, and Spot were guarding one end of the block the factory was on and Amanda, Mel and I were on the other. Lily and Sniffles had made their way into the factory to talk to the girls.   
  
Out of nowhere, two guys appeared; stinky and drunk.   
  
"What are some lovely ladies such as yourselves doing out here alone on a night like this?" slurred one.   
  
I started gagging, the smell of alcohol on them was suffocating, and they weren't even that close to me. As they stepped more out of the shadows I realized who the two guys were, the Delancy brothers. "Fabulous," I thought. They wobbled over to Amanda and Mel who were arguing about something. I guess the Delancys didn't see me, I was in the shadows.   
  
"Ack! How dare you touch me Morris!" screamed Amanda flailing her arms about.   
  
I ran over to her. She was using her karate skills that I didn't know about and holding him off, but he kept coming at her. So I picked up a left over piece of brick from the ground and using my fab discus skills, I chucked it at Morris' head. It knocked him out cold. As he fell, in slow-motion, he landed on Amanda's foot causing her to fall and twist her ankle.   
  
"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!" she screamed.   
  
While this was going on, Oscar had slammed Mel against the wall knocking the wind out of her. Morris came in for a sloppy, stinky kiss, but Mel smacked him. So he punched her in the face. A small gash appeared underneath her right eye. He yelled slurred profanities at her.   
  
"Someone needs to enrich their vocabulary, Oscar," she retorted and then spit in his face.   
  
"Huh?" Then he gasped for air.   
  
Melanie had kneed him in the groin and he fell to the ground whimpering pathetically. I helped Amanda up and Mel came over for extra support. The three of us started laughing, probably out of relief. It wasn't until then that the guys came to help and see what was going on.   
  
"You girls did this?!" Jack sputtered out in amazement.   
  
"Why not?"   
  
The guys were in awe.   
  
"You alright there Curly? You look like you're limping, want some help?" Jack asked worriedly.   
  
Mel and I passed her over to Jack, who held her up easily.   
  
Melanie was covering her face. The gash on her cheek was bleeding badly. She removed her hand and asked, "has anyone got something I can use to stop the bleeding?"   
  
"How did you get that?" Spot asked her concerned.   
  
"Morris punched me," she responded, as if it were nothing.   
  
"Oh if I ever get my hands on him….." Spot cursed.   
  
"I don't think they'll be bothering us anymore," I reassured, "we got 'em good."   
  
Spot found a semi clean rag from someone's drying laundry and gave it to Mel to stop the bleeding. "Thanks," she said.   
  
"Raven, are you alright?" Bumlets asked her.   
  
"Yeah I'm fine, but I think that Amanda and Mel need to be seen by a doctor. Do you think that we could maybe get them back to the lodging house and maybe some of us stay here and wait for Sniffles and Lily to come back."   
  
"Good idea," said Jack, "Spot and I'll take Curly and Melanie back to the lodging house and get 'em cleaned up. The rest of you wait till Lily and Sniffles come back. And be careful in case those to wake up or something."   
  
"Sure thing, Jack," Kid Blink replied.   
  
The foursome headed off. The rest of us stood around and talked for awhile………   
  
"BOO!"   
  
I screamed really loud.   
  
"Hey guys!" Sniffles greeted.   
  
Mush came over and gave her a big hug. "I was so worried about you!"   
  
"We're fine," she responded. The two started kissing……   
  
"Anyways," Kid Blink said, "tell us news, do they want to strike?"   
  
"Yes and as soon as possible because there were three more deaths this evening! They want better conditions and more pay because what they have right now is ridiculous," Lily replied. She looked around. "Hey where did everybody go?"   
  
"Let me tell you about that on the way to lodging house. Let's walk and talk shall we?" I suggested.   
  
All of us headed in the direction of the lodging house and I told her all that she had missed. Mush and Sniffles said they would catch up with us later.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7   
  
When we returned, we found Amanda asleep on her/Jack's bed with an ice pack on her foot and Jack sitting at the edge of the bed reading his Santa Fe brochure.   
  
"Hey Jack, is she alright?" I asked.   
  
"Yeah, the doc said it's only twisted and should heal fast as long as we keep the swelling down," he responded.   
  
"How's Mel?"   
  
"The doc stitched her up, gave her a bandage, and some ice for the bruise forming on her cheek. Said he'd be back here in a week to check on everybody," he said. I was about to ask where she was, but Jack answered it for me; "and I think she's on the roof with Spot."   
  
I smiled, then I stretched and yawned. I didn't realize how tired I was, but I wasn't ready to go to bed yet. So I sat out on the fire escape and thought about all that had happened in only two days. It was crazy; it didn't make any sense, but I couldn't complain. I was surrounded by a bunch of guys from a different time and I was going to help give a whole bunch of girls a voice with this strike. My thoughts were interrupted by a rumbling from the inside, the rest of the newsies were returning. I decided to climb up to the roof and bug Mel. She was telling Spot all about how their strike was made into a "flickah" in our times and more stuff about the future. "Hey guys," I said.   
  
"Oh hey Robyn! What's up?" Mel asked. "Is Amanda alright? The doc fixed me up first and Spot wanted to talk to me, so I didn't get to find out what happened to Amanda."   
  
"She's alright, but right now she is asleep. Oh, and yes the factory girls want to strike," I replied.   
  
"Good…..Are Lily and Sniffles back then?" she asked.   
  
"Yup"   
  
"Are they ok?"   
  
"Yes, but ummm…. Sniffles stayed with Mush and I don't know if they have returned yet."   
  
Melanie giggled. We heard a "hey Mush, want to join the game?" probably from Racetrack.   
  
"Speak of the devil," I said.   
  
"I'll be back. I got to ask Lily and Sniffles something," Mel said as she bounded excitedly back into the lodging house before we could say another word.   
  
Spot is not my favorite person in the world. He is Melanie's. Conversation was a little awkward.   
  
Spot rocked back and forth on his toes. "Hi," he said nonchalantly.   
  
I replied the same to him. The silence was deafening.   
  
"What are they going to do next?" he asked.   
  
"I don't know. I don't think we've planned it yet. Which probably means they're planning it right now." I answered.   
  
"We should get going then," he moved towards the fire escape.   
  
"No wait. I have a question." I caught up with him. We stopped at the edge of the building. I planned my words carefully.   
"Mel's kind of shy."   
  
He laughed. "That's not a question." But he waited.   
  
"I'm just letting you know."   
  
"You aren't exactly outgoing either. Bumlets has been trying really hard-"   
  
I was flustered, "it's not about me. I was going to ask you if you liked her."   
  
His famous smirk crossed his face, but he didn't say anything. Then he leapt over the edge and down the fire escape. I shook my head and gingerly made my way down the creaking fire escape.   
  
Everyone was gathered around the table listening to Lily and Sniffles. Lily was pointing at Kid Blink, "you'll talk to Denton and we'll continue to talk to the factory girls. Good night everyone. The meeting of Save the Factory Workers is now adjourned." With that she slammed her fist on the table like a gavel to end the meeting. "Ouch!" Then the poker game started.   
  
I walked over to Amanda and Mel who were sitting on top of Amanda's bed.   
  
"Well you two spent a long time up there! What happened?" Amanda asked.   
  
"I find myself remarkably tired. See you all in the morning." I said ignoring Amanda's question.   
  
"But….but….but Robyn," Melanie protested.   
  
I just yawned and walked to my bed. Bumlets appeared. "Hello," he said.   
  
"Did you want the bed tonight? I'll sleep on the floor."   
  
"No, no. We got some extra beds from the attic for you all."   
  
"Thanks." Oh. I was faintly disappointed that the sharing the bed option was no longer available. But I was tired and fell asleep on to an unclaimed bed instantly.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8   
  
I woke up because some one was shaking me gently. "Huh? Oh mornin' Kloppman."   
  
"I figured I would get you girls up a little earlier so you could use the bathroom before the guys destroyed it," he said.   
  
I smiled. "Thanks Kloppman. I'll get the others up for you," I said eyeing the feathers still on the floor.   
  
"Thanks," he responded. He headed back downstairs.   
  
I some how got out of bed and picked up a feather. I was about to go to Amanda's bed, but there was one other person in the bed with her. Jack was still insistent that that was his bed. So I wandered over to Mel's bed. I lightly tickled the feather under her nose. She twitched. I did it again. She woke up and sneezed.   
  
"Good morning Melanie!"   
  
"Huh?" She said groggily. Then she saw the feather, "what did you do that for?"   
  
"Kloppman is letting us have the bathroom first."   
  
"Oh good. Hey do you think you could just shake me a little next time, please. A feather up my nose is not pleasant. Let's go get Lily and Sniffles up then, but what are we going to do about Amanda? Jack said last night that she was not leaving the lodging house today because of her ankle."   
  
"I think we should wake her anyway. Just to annoy her," I said mischievously.   
  
Mel grinned and with a twinkle in her eye she whispered her idea in my ear. I started laughing. "Of course she added, we should wake up Jack first just so we don't have to deal with two people for doing this."   
  
"Good idea."   
  
We headed off down stairs to get the materials we needed and then back up. Melanie gently shook Jack and we told him what we were going to do. He immediately got up off the bed.   
  
"AAAACCCCKKKK!!!!" screamed Amanda.   
  
We had just poured a whole bunch of ice on top of Amanda and all of us were laughing hysterically.   
  
"Oops! Sorry, I think we missed her foot Robyn!" Mel laughed.   
  
"Rise and shine!" I added cheerfully.   
  
Some of the newsies woke up at the sound, but went back to sleep when they found out what it was. Lily and Sniffles awoke too and figured it was time to get ready for the day, so they headed off to the bathroom.   
  
"You…..you….I'm going to get you guys for this," Amanda turned and started to put her feet on the floor, "Ouch, but not right now. When you least expect it, expect it!"   
  
We were still laughing and got our stuff and headed off to the bathroom. Jack helped Amanda back into her bed trying to contain his laughter.   
  
I had already finished my shower, gotten dressed and was brushing my hair, when I saw Melanie peek her head out of the shower and look both ways cautiously as if crossing a street.   
  
"What are you doing?" I asked her.   
  
"I forgot to grab a shirt," she answered sheepishly.   
  
I rolled my eyes.   
  
Mel began to tiptoe out of the stall with her towel wrapped around her. I could see her bra straps and she was wearing capris.   
So she wasn't totally naked walking out there, so I didn't think much of it. I turned to watch her go out and she stood there frozen with the towel loosely around her and an enormous amount of half-dressed guys were trying to squeeze through the doorway attempting to get a glimpse. It was really funny, I started laughing. Melanie quickly pulled the towel tightly back up around her, ran back to the shower stall, grabbed her stuff, and stood next to me waiting for the boys to take over the bathroom before making a mad dash out of there to finish getting dressed. I decided to head up to the roof to get away from all the hustle and bustle in the bathroom. I asked Bumlets to come get me before they left for the distribution office. When I got up on the roof, I found Mel propped up against the side of the car with her head and knees buried into her chest. "Are you alright?" I asked.   
  
She looked up, her face was flushed. "Well besides the fact that I just totally humiliated myself in front of a bunch of hot guys….No, I'd say I'm just fine, just dandy," she answered sarcastically.   
  
I sat down next to her and patted her on the shoulder. "I'm sure they didn't mind. In fact that probably woke them up this morning," I told her.   
  
"Great…" She buried her head back into her knees.   
  
Bumlets came up and said, "Raven, we're about to leave, are you ready?"   
  
"Yeah, I'll be there in a sec," I turned to Mel, "You coming?"   
  
"I'll meet you guys at Tibby's and sell the afternoon edition or whatever. I don't think I'm ready to face the public yet. I'll take care of Amanda or start coming up with stuff for Medda's number. You all have fun."   
  
"You sure?"   
  
"I'm sure."   
  
"Alright then…" I waved good bye and headed down the fire escape with Bumlets.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9   
  
I was still munching on the piece of bread that the nuns offered us when we arrived at the distribution center.   
  
Bumlets announced, "first thing you got to know is…"   
  
"Headlines don't sell papes, Newsies sell papes," I chimed in with him. He looked at me funny. "Tell you later." He nodded.   
  
"Hey Bumlets! Got a new recruit?" asked the wrinkly, white haired man at the desk.   
  
"Sure do Cookie, her name's Raven," he answered.   
  
"Nice to meet you Raven."   
  
"You too…Cookie?"   
  
"The name's Otis Spunkmeyer. They call me Cookie because I'm trying to start up a cookie shop."   
  
"Well don't give up alright?! We could use a good cookie shop around here." I smiled. "Otis Spunkmeyer," I thought, "he was going to be big some day."   
  
"Hey Bumlets! Would you hurry it up already? I ain't got all day!" Racetrack yelled impatiently from the back of the line.   
  
"Just hold your horses, Racetrack," I said. The pun was probably intended.   
  
"Ha ha, very funny."   
  
"I know."   
  
"Seventy papes please Cookie," Bumlets requested. THUMP! The pile of papes landed in front of his face. "Thanks." As we scooted out of line, he handed me twenty. "Now look at this headline, 'Mayor eats apple with worm and faints.' Now that won't sell. You got to say something like…" he thought for a moment, "mysterious intruder attempts to murder mayor. You know improving the truth a little."   
  
"Oh yeah, just a teeny bit," I said sarcastically.   
  
We walked around for a while selling our papers. He was doing a little better than I was.   
  
Then we heard an "I can't take it anymore! You're too over protective! You hold onto me like I'm a piece of meat or something! You won't even let me go out with my friends by myself anymore! It's always all about you and your whiney self!"   
  
"But Jack!" a blubbering voice interrupted.   
  
"Don't 'but Jack' me! It's over Sarah! It's definitely over!"   
  
We looked around the corner to see a blotchy-faced Sarah and an incredibly irate Jack.   
  
"After all we've been through Jack? And this is how you end it?" Sarah interjected.   
  
"Did you not hear me the first time?" he asked annoyed.   
  
"Fine you…you…you street rat!"   
  
"Don't even say that !" he responded, but she was already running off in the other direction. Jack stomped his way out of the alley. We quickly made ourselves look inconspicuous. It probably didn't work. Jack turned and saw us, "she's gone guys, she's gone."   
  
"You alright Jack?" Bumlets asked.   
  
Jack paused, looked around, wiggled his arms making sure nothing was clinging to them, then yelled, "I'm free!"   
  
The three of us started laughing. "Alright guys, I'll meet up with you for lunch at Tibby's. I'm going to finish selling my papes.   
Oh and don't tell nobody the good news, okay? I want to be the first," Jack said.   
  
"Sure thing Jack," Bumlets replied. Jack bounded down the street.   
  
"It's about time he did that," I said, "I've only been here a few days and I'm already sick of her. How'd Jack put up with it for a year?"   
  
"The world may never know," Bumlets with a wink.   
  
We finished selling our papers and headed down to Tibby's for lunch.   
  
"Hey Raven?" A voice spoke out from behind me.   
  
I turned around, "oh hey Spot." Bumlets, too, said his hello.   
  
Trying to act nonchalant, Spot asked, "Where's Mel? I haven't seen her all day, well except for this morning…"   
  
I glared at Spot and Bumlets snickered, "looking all day, huh?"   
  
Spot gave him the look and I pushed him gently to the side. "She'll be at Tibby's. Walk with us, we're almost there." I gave him a reassuring smile because he looked nervous.   
  
He looked at me suspiciously, and with narrowed eyes, he replied, "sure." Then he slouched into line with us.   
  
"How did your selling go Spot?" I asked.   
  
"Sold all hundred of my papes," he responded, "how was your first day?"   
  
"Fun and interesting," I said. Spot gave me another suspicious look, "you'll find out later," I replied. Bumlets just nodded.   
  
From here Spot proceeded to tell Bumlets what Mel had told him about the strike being turned into a movie and some other things about the future. I had to interject now and then because Spot was saying something wrong or got some facts backwards. This was probably because of either Spot's ignorance on the subject or Mel just said it wrong to begin with. Most likely a mixture of the two.   
  
By this point we had arrived at Tibby's. Mush, Sniffles, Lily, Kid Blink, Racetrack and a few others were already there. The three of us walked in and sat down with the rest of them. We said our hellos and ordered some food.   
  
We all squeezed around a table. Kid Blink called for silence. "I talked to Denton. He said he'd come see us. But he was rather busy at that moment," he winked, "a lady friend." The table erupted in laughter.   
  
"Hey guys," Denton appeared behind them slightly bemused. Everyone said hi and shoved over to admit him at the table. "Who are we waiting for?"   
  
"Mel and Jack. They haven't come yet," Kid Blink informed.   
  
"Mel?"   
  
So to skip ahead, we briefly gave him the story. I'm getting really tired of retelling it. In the meantime, Mel arrived and sat next to Spot. I contained my big smile at that.   
  
Denton and the rest of us discussed the factory worker's strike. We decided to start it as soon as we could get flyers printed and distributed. "Probably by the end of the week," said Sniffles.   
  
Lily brightened, "David will be here at the end of the week." Sniffles patted her on the back. They looked at me and winked. I, of course, was clueless. Everyone was finished eating.   
  
The door burst open and Jack came sailing in. "Hi everyone!" he yelled with a big smile on his face.   
  
"My, Jack, you look extremely happy," said Mush. Bumlets looked at me and winked.   
  
Jack jumped on the table and opened his mouth. I winced because it looked like he was about to burst into song. I stood up,   
"Oh no you're not!"   
  
Sniffles jumped on the table with him, quickly cupped her hand over his mouth, and cried, "don't do it Jack! Don't do it!"   
  
"Fine," Jack pouted.   
  
"What are you trying to tell us Jack?" Denton asked.   
  
"I broke up with Sarah!" he answered. Cheers erupted. "Guess you guys really didn't like her, huh?" Everyone just laughed.   
  
"Well anyways," Denton continued, "since I can't stay long, I'll tell you what I'm going to do. I'm going to write a flyer that includes an article exposing all of the horrible things going on at the factory. I need you guys to find out the details about that. Then I'm going to find out what the owner has to say about our findings, print that on a flyer along with the strike information to pass out to people. I'm hoping that this will help organize a major union for factory workers." He looked at his pocket watch, "alright guys, I have to run." Denton got up and headed for the door with a chorus of "bye Denton!" or "thanks Denton!"


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10   
  
Some of us stayed and talked. Others had to finish selling their papers, so they left. The guys were busy talking about something, who knows what, so Mel and I took this opportunity to talk to Lily and Sniffles.   
  
"Alright," Mel said, "I overheard Racetrack saying that the guys were going to Medda's tonight for Jack. This would be a really good time for us to work on Big Spender."   
  
"Good idea," Lily said.   
  
"What time do they usually go? And then what time do they return?" I asked.   
  
"They leave around 7:30 and don't come back until around midnight," Sniffles answered.   
  
"Great!" Mel said, "nobody stays behind right?"   
  
"Sometimes," Lily responded, "but since they are celebrating for Jack, everyone should be going."   
  
"Perfect!" Mel said excitedly, "just make sure you all are there!"   
  
"There for what?" Spot inquired. Bumlets was standing behind him.   
  
"How long have you been standing there?" Mel asked, slightly alarmed.   
Spot just smirked.   
  
"Sniffles, Lily, you ladies ready to go?" Mush asked.   
  
"Yes," they responded. The two slid out of the booth and headed out the door with Mush and Kid Blink. "See you all later!"   
  
"Oh shoot, Robyn! I almost forgot! I told Amanda that I would bring her back something to eat!" Mel exclaimed. She dug some change out of her pocket, "hope she like corn-dogs."   
  
The dancing waiter, the one that bobs his head off beat during King of New York, took her order. He brought back a corn-dog wrapped in tin foil. "Thanks"   
  
"Now are we ready to go?" I asked.   
  
"Yes."   
  
The four of us left Tibby's and headed down the street to the lodging house. I picked up a pretzel for Amanda along the way.   
We arrived at the house and found Kloppman shuffling through some paper work. We said our hellos and Mel and I went upstairs to give Amanda her food. It was really noisy, so I creaked open the door only to find Amanda sitting on her bed, red-faced and screaming at Jack about something.   
  
"All I asked you to do was go up on the roof, open the back door of the car and get me a drink out of the cooler. Now is that so hard?" Amanda screamed.   
  
"Well when you order me to do something before I even say 'hi' and tell you the good news, I find that very rude. So I'm not going to do it. You girls come in here from who knows where, I accept you in and give you a place to stay, then you treat me like dirt! Now there is something really wrong with that!" exclaimed Jack.   
  
Mel and I looked at each other, "whoa!" Mel picked up the food and crept over to Amanda in the middle of her and Jack's bantering. She gave Amanda her food then scooted her way out of there. The two were now throwing insults at each other. We shut the door behind us. We could still hear their yelling.   
  
"So Kloppman, how long has this been going on?" I asked.   
  
"For the past forty-five minutes," he replied rubbing his head.   
  
All of a sudden, it got really quiet. The for of us went back up the stairs and opened the door to see what was going on. What we saw wasn't pretty. They were kissing. Bumlets looked stunned, Mel and I started laughing, while Spot walked into the room applauding. "Way to go Jacky-boy!"   
  
The couple looked up, alarmed.   
  
"Hi guys!" Mel chimed.   
  
"Oh, I'm sorry! Did we come at a bad time?" I asked with fake innocence.   
  
Amanda just glared at us.   
  
"If you'll excuse us," Jack said as he ushered us out of the room and shut the door.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11  
"What should we do now?" Mel asked.  
"Well," I said, "I think they're busy."  
We started back down the stairs. Outside we looked up and down the street.   
Spot coughed, "I need to sell more papes."   
Mel took his hint immediately. "You need to teach me how, remember?" She tugged on his sleeve.  
"Alright. Let's go. We'll go up to Brooklyn tomorrow. I got to get back, but you all can come along and we'll go swimming."   
I know a look of horror appeared on my face. Bumlets leaned over and whispered in my ear, "I got to see this."   
I whispered back, "Let's follow then. Out loud Bumlets announced to Spot that we were going too. "Haven't sold my quota today"  
I could tell that Spot wasn't pleased. Mel elbowed me in the stomach and gave me a nasty look. Bumlets came back with more papes and handed some to me. "We'll lose them after I'm finished laughing."  
We started off screaming elaborated headlines and calling for money. Spot got rid of most of his. Me and Bumlets were about even. Mel was struggling until Spot helped her. As a team they worked quite well.   
Well frankly I was bored. I pulled Bumlets over to the side and suggested that we find something better to do. He agreed and we disappeared down a side street. Spot and Mel didn't notice.  
*****************************************************************************************************************  
After a lovely afternoon with Bumlets I found myself walking home to whatever its called. I was meeting the rest of the gals because the guys were off being guys at Medda's. This included celebrating Jack's new short-lived singlehood and where they were about to find out about Amanda.   
We decided that now would be a good time to practice Big Spender, but first I needed to find out what had happened between Spot and Mel. I hollered greetings up the stairs. I was the last to arrive. Mel was telling the story of her afternoon, "well Spot suggested we head down to Central Park since some type of festival was going on down there. So I said, 'ok' because I've been wanting to go down there anyway. We get there and there were already people celebrating the fourth of July! So we walked around looking at everything, and that's when I saw it. The Funnel Cake Stand. You can't go to a fair without one. We had been resting on a bench when I saw it and decided I wanted one. I asked Spot if he wouldn't mind sharing one, he said that he didn't. I got up and got in line for one. When I had received it and started heading back, there was a girl sitting on Spot's lap. She had long wavy black hair, a clear olive complexion, and bright blue eyes. Course I didn't see that until later because she was busy sucking face with Spot. When they finished, I handed Spot the rest of the funnel cake saying he could have the rest because I didn't feel so good. He just smiled and offered some to that thing on his lap, which only made me feel worse. When they finished wiping powered sugar off of each other's faces, Spot decided to introduce us. I found out that her name was Sapphire, or at least that was what everyone called her because of her eyes. She seemed too fake and just so ewwy, it was harsh, and yet Spot seemed mesmerized. By now I had figured out why Spot had wanted to come here in the first place. So in the disgusted state that I was, I left the two and wandered around for a bit and ended up finding Blink and Racetrack on their way to Medda's. I joined them and they brought me back here before returning to Medda's. I had more fun walking with them than I had this entire day. As far as I know, Spot didn't even notice that I had left. And well, anyway, enough of my babbling of something I can't do anything about. We need to get started on Big Spender."   
Mel hopped down from the bed and was just about to put the CD in the player when Amanda shouted out, "Wait a second! Its not supposed to happen like this, and even though it has, you're ok with it?!"  
"Well what am I going to do about it?!" Mel answered, " no I'm not ok with it! But there's nothing I can do! He's got to do it on his own free will, because he wants to! And if he doesn't want to, then nobody's going to make him choose otherwise. Now we really need to get this started because I really want to do this, alright?"  
"Maybe it was a jealousy thing, " I said landing upon the bed next to Amanda.  
"It worked didn't it?" said Amanda agreeing with me.  
"He's always been like that, " said Sniffles, "guys are so afraid of commitment. And if it means, actually means something to them, well off they go in the other direction. Sapphire is just a hanger anyway. She likes the attention she gets from hanging with Newsies." Sniffles groaned. "Let's get on with the show though shall we?"  
Mel explained the situation to them. We listened to the song once or twice and then Mel started showing us  
what she had in mind. Lily spoke up with suggestions which were awesome, and we added them in it. The dance was starting to look like something. I was loving it, the only problem I had was some people need to learn how to  
shake their hips.   
Amanda protested, "I don't have any!"   
So we added a little belly dancing in there as a warm-up. The whole scene was to consist of a bar that we  
would be hanging on. We were pretending to be bored prostitutes. The whole song consisted of perfect  
timing and switching of positions. We practiced that most of the time because that's where we needed help.   
Satisfied with the progress we had made, we finished just in time to be ready for bed as the guys sauntered  
in from celebrating. And we went to bed, fairly happy, but I was still pissed at Spot and the other girls  
were too, I could tell. But there was enough time for that in the morning.  



	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12  
  
The next morning I woke up early again. I didn't know what was wrong with me. I went to the sink and found Lily brushing her teeth. "Yo" I greeted her. After she finished rinsing she replied with a good morning.  
  
"Mel's up on the roof. I think you should talk to her. You sound like you all are better friends then anyone else here. Plus you have more tact than Amanda."  
  
I wasn't awake yet. "What should I tell her?"  
  
"Talk to her about our dear friend Spot." Blanking, I looked at her in confusion. "Let me tell you a story. Short so that no one else will hear. Spot's from Brooklyn." This was common knowledge to me so I was still confused. "It's a rough place. Tough from what I hear. I hear a lot too being from there and all. You gotta give him a little credit for surviving and he's done that without having major feelings to think about. The best thing for Mel would be to talk to him and tell him how she feels. If he likes her back, and I think we all know he does, it won't be scary because he'll know his feelings are returned."  
  
"Should I tell that story to her?" I asked washing my face.  
  
"Omit the Brooklyn part because it's obvious from your accent that you aren't from there." Lily smiled and put her toiletries away. She left me to go eat breakfast. I went upstairs to talk to Mel. And I told her the story.  
  
She stood up and yelled at me. "That's all a bunch of crap!"   
  
I sat with a bemused expression on my face. "It could be true." Swinging my legs over the side of the building, I waited for her retort.  
  
"There's no need for me to embarrass myself in front of him like that. And I think from yesterday's adventure," adventure had a sarcastic tone, " we all know that he doesn't like me." She stomped her way around the roof.  
  
"Do you want me to talk to him?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Maybe Bumlets coul-"  
  
"No."  
  
"Jack and Amanda. They're both pretty stub-"  
  
"NO! I don't like him that much anyway. I'm way more excited about Big Spender. We need to go talk to Medda about costumes for the big show."  
  
"We have the strike too remember?"  
  
"But Denton has to do his thing before we do ours. I can almost bet that his article wasn't ready yet and therefore not in the paper."  
  
"Well, we're about to go look aren't we?" I stood up and prepared to go down to breakfast.  
  
Mel shook her head. "I'm not selling papes today. I'll work on the choreography and go see Medda too."  
  
I couldn't believe she was being this stubborn. "Fine. We'll see ya once you come back to your senses." I started to go.   
  
"Robyn. Wait a sec."   
  
I turned to face Mel.   
  
"Look, I appreciate what you are doing for me, but you know this is hard for me and it's causing me to be on edge. So if I snap at you, it's not personal, I promise. So as you said, to come back to my senses, I'm going to stay away from people right now." I nodded, and we said our good byes. I went back downstairs.   
  
Bumlets laughed the whole thing off at breakfast. "He's such a heartbreaker!" he chuckled. However, Jack and Amanda were more concerned. All four of us decided to sell together and off we went to pick u p papers. On the way, Jack pressed for details. Amanda and I told the story almost exactly the way Mel told us.   
  
Amanda was the first to suggest a plan. "Lemme talk to him. I'll straighten him out." With her hands on her hips she looked sinister.  
  
Bumlets and Jack both said that was a bad idea. "I'll talk to him," said Jack.  
  
"No." They looked at me surprised. "She'll do it herself or she won't. She's gotta learn to do this on her own. This is a learning opportunity." I sauntered ahead and gave my last paper to a fruit seller at the corner.  
  
Spot appeared behind me. "Hello." I screamed and tripped over a loose piece of concrete. Bumlets ran to catch me, but I fell hard on the curb. Jack and Amanda were laughing. "I didn't mean to scare you sorry. I just wanted to know if you guys were gonna come walk with me back to Brooklyn. Remember the swimming thing?"  
  
"Swimming's not my thing. Go ask Mel." I stood up and brushed myself off. Bumlets enveloped me in a hug. I was beginning to like the guy.   
  
Spot winced. "Only I haven't been able to find her. She disappeared from the park yesterday. That pissed me off. I wanted to talk to her about it but I couldn't find her." Spot looked up from where he had been staring at his feet. Everyone had a look of disbelief for him. "Are we going or not?"  
  
Jack made an instant decision. "Lets." He and Spot started walking.  
  
I asked Amanda, "What's going on?"  
  
"Jack has a plan." She started after them.  
  
"A plan?" My disbelief was greater than before.  
  
Bumlets grabbed my hands and pulled me along. "Jack always has great plans. You'll see." He smiled at me so I consented and went along with him.  
  
It was a long walk. Along the way, I talked with Amanda. "What's up between you and Jack?"  
  
She smiled innocently. "Nooooooooooothiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnng."  
  
"I noticed he picked you up rather quickly after dumping Sarah." We were going uphill now. And it was hot in this city, especially during noon.  
  
Amanda gave me a surprised look. "Well, of course! I am waaaaaaaaaaaaay so much better than her." We burst out laughing. The guys looked back but said nothing.  
  
Sweaty and dehydrated, we reached Brooklyn an hour before dusk. Rather the pier, and then the water we were going swimming in. "But I'm not going swimming," I protested.  
  
Amanda yelled, "Quit being a wuss!" as she cannonballed into the water.  
  
Bumlets had his hand on my arm. "What's wrong with swimming?" he coerced.  
  
"I can't see, I can't swim, and I hate the way I look in a swimsuit. Water makes me uncomfortable. I even hate pools!" But he didn't know what pools were. I continued, "I just don't swim. Period. End of story."   
  
He gave me the strangest look. "Let's dance then." He did little jig on the pier.  
  
"Dance?" What the hell was he talking about?  
  
"Yes." He grabbed me and started to dance. I kind had to go along with him or we were gonna step on each other's feet. He twirled me over the water and I screamed. "Chill out. I'm not gonna drop you or anything. We had everyone's attention as we continued. We were doing some kind of waltz thing and he wasn't half bad. I know I was pretty bad. People began to hoot and holler. I lost count. "Don't pay any attention to them." He smiled at me. I guess the music in his head ended because just about then he bent me backward over his arm. Then he flipped me into the water.  
  
I hit the water with a splash and came up sputtering. "Help me!! Oh my god, help help help help HELP!!!!!!" I was flailing my arms around in the water and kicking furiously with my feet.  
  
Bumlets dived in then came up laughing beside me. "You're fine, a natural born swimmer."  
  
I was seething. "I…hate you….."  
  
"No you don't, " he replied cheerfully. By that time, Amanda and Jack swum over to us.  
  
They congratulated Bumlets on his dancing talents. "I didn't know you had any," said Jack truthfully.  
  
Amanda was even more impressed. She clapped me on the back. "You all were good, but wait until he sees you at-" I slapped my hand over her mouth.  
  
Unfortunately, Bumlets noticed her last remark. "See you at what? What do I get to see you at?"  
  
I was still pissed at him. "Nothing. But you can see me get out of here. I'm going home. Later." I pulled myself onto the pier and desperately tried to wring out some of the water in my clothes.   
  
Bumlets climbed up and sat facing me. "You're not really mad, are you? I knew you would be mad, but it was really all in good fun. It was rather clever."  
  
"My pride is hurt way more than anything, but I'm still going home. I gotta check on Mel anyway and we need a progress report on the strike. So, I need to talk to Denton." And it's almost dark, but I figure he could see that for himself. "Bye."  
  
"Bye." He slid back into the water. I walked back to the boarding house feeling strangely guilty. 


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13  
  
I found Mel at the boarding house. "Come walk with me to Denton's place. I wanna find out what happened with him today."  
  
"About what?"  
  
"The Strike! Remember the strike?" I knew she was caught up in Medda's thing but still we were here for a purpose.  
  
"I want to come with you guys," said Sniffles.  
  
"Oh yes me too," chimed in Lily. They had just come in, probably finished with selling their papers. "I wanna make sure my girls at the factory are going to be okay."  
  
Sniffles nodded. "We haven't talked to them in a week or so.  
  
Mel agreed to go but stated that she was gonna finish the one last task she was working on. "I'm cleaning out Racetrack's hairbrush." There was a chorus of nasty looks and groaning. "It was sooooo dirty in the movie Raven, and it doesn't look any better in real life."  
  
"We'll meet you outside," said Sniffles. We quickly hurried out the door. "That's not clean, messing with someone else's hairbrush."  
  
"Lice and all that," agreed Lily. "Do you do stuff like that normally where you come from?" I shook my head and explained all I could about obsessions.  
  
Mel quickly joined us outside. "I went to Medda's today, and you'll never guess who I saw!!"  
  
"Who, let me guess, Medda?" I asked sarcastically.  
  
Mel ignored me and continued, "Ellyn was there! She's Medda's costume designer put together person! Isn't that cool?!"  
  
"Who's Ellyn?" Sniffles and Lily asked in unison.  
  
"Well it figures she would have something to do with costuming," I said, "what else happened?"  
  
"We got some ideas for the costumes together and I had Medda listen to the music. She really likes it. Then Medda got her set designers to make the bar we all hang on. Everything is going quite smoothly. We just need everyone to stop in there at some point to get themselves measured. That's basically it."  
  
"Shouldn't we get to design our own costumes?" Lily asked.  
  
"If you want to, but we need them soon because they have to be made before Friday," Mel answered.  
  
"Dave comes back on Friday, do you think he'll be able to come? I haven't seen him in three months!" Lily questioned no one in particular.  
  
Sniffles added, "not since his last vacation from school. I'm sure he'll be able to come though."  
  
By this point we had arrived at Denton's apartment. We hadn't exactly called saying we were coming beforehand, so we were hoping he was home. Sniffles took the honor of knocking on the door. Due to our good fortune, he was there.  
  
"Evening ladies, what can I do for you?" Denton asked.  
  
"We are just checking up on the progress of your article on the factory workers," I said.  
  
"Well you're in luck, I have the final draft right here, if you girls would like to, you can check over it and make sure everything is correct," Denton offered.  
  
"Thanks," I said as the four of us settled around the table. Denton brought us the draft and set it in the middle of the table.  
  
"I need you guys to check that the content is correct," I said gesturing to Lily and Sniffles, "Then Mel and I will check the punctuation and stuff. This way everybody has a part." Everybody seemed to agree.  
  
We read through it. It sounded good, I mean, he had all the important stuff like the unfair wages and harsh conditions. We told him he needed to add specific incidents to back up what he was saying. Lily and Sniffles gave him a few good ones to use. Mel and I checked the mechanics of the paper, that looked good too. I handed the paper back to Denton, "looks good."  
  
"When can we see it in the paper?" I asked.  
  
"When are you guys having the strike?" he questioned back.  
  
"As soon as we see the article in the paper," I responded. Without another word, we turned around and walked out the door.   
  
When we were out of the building, Mel commented, "that was suave Robyn."  
  
"Thanks, I know," I giggled.  
The four of us returned to the lodging house and went to bed. 


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14  
  
I awoke to the sounds of argument. Mel and Amanda were fighting over what sounded like hair.  
  
"Would you guys shut up!" I yelled at them. I straggled into the bathroom rubbing the sleep from my eyes.  
  
"Well come on Robyn, isn't curly hair better?" asked Melanie.  
  
"Well yeah why?"  
  
"Amanda's straightening her hair! I don't know why! It's gonna be frizzy by the end of the day anyway with all this humidity." Amanda stuck her tongue out and continued to straighten her hair in front of the mirror.  
  
"Are you serious?!?!?!" I asked in disbelief. I leaned around Mel to yell at Amanda. "I told you not to pack that thing!"  
  
Amanda turned around from her position in front of the mirror. "Straight hair is so much better. Easier to manage and brush and everything! Straight hair is cool."  
  
"C-O-L-L right Amanda?"  
  
Mel interjected with, "No, straight hair is K-E-W-L"  
  
"What are you people talking about?" We turned around in surprise. We hadn't realized people were listening. It was Kid Blink.   
  
Mel got one last jab in before we quit bickering for the morning. "What does Jack like straight hair better?"  
  
"Or maybe she's trying to compete with Sarah," I added.  
  
"That was mean!" said Kid Blink. He came further into the bathroom. "You are way so much better than Sarah ever was. Your hair looks funky this way though. Just leave it alone."  
  
With pleased expressions on our faces, we sauntered out. I added over my shoulder, "don't forget to put the hair straightener back in the car when you're finished."  
  
Mr. Kloppman had asked for our help and rousing the boys. "Really?" said Mel maliciously.  
  
"We must behave today. Friday we'll pull all those stunts. But today…." I winked. We ran downstairs and grabbed some pots and pans. Dragging them upstairs, we started banging them together and singing at the top of our lungs and quite off key "I'm alive awake alert enthusiastic. I'm alive awake alert enthusiastic. I'm alive awake alert, alert awake alive. I'm alive awake alert enthusiastic!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Course we repeated this several times, but then were attacked by pillows from all angles. We fell on to the floor laughing. "Mr. Kloppman!!! They're awake!!"  
  
"Thanks ladies," he called upstairs.  
  
"Anytime!" we yelled back.  
  
Mel tugged on my sleeve. "I have to find the doctor at some point today. My stitches are gonna come out. Amanda needs to get her ankle checked out too." Right then we saw Amanda stomping down the stairs. Every time her injured foot hit the stair we heard an ow!. We ran after her. "Amanda, you need to get your foot checked by the doctor when he comes."  
  
"I need some air," she grumbled. "And now some aspirin." She sat on the step. She had a very pained expression on her face.  
  
"What's wrong?" I asked.  
  
"Nothing." It was quickly said and obviously a lie.  
  
"Yeah rite." I replied.  
  
"I think somebody needs some chocolate!" said Mel. "It's a panacea. Ooh that was an SAT word." She started doing a victory dance.  
  
"A what?" I asked.  
  
"A big word," said Amanda. There was a rush behind us and the newsies stumbled down the stairs. They managed to avoid us. We saw Race leap over the crowd. "Race?"  
  
"You're flying buddy! You're flying!!!!" Mush pointed at him. Everybody clapped and then continued on their way.   
  
"Hey ladies?" Race asked us.  
  
"Yeah," we all answered.  
  
"Any of you want to go to the races with me today?" he asked.  
  
Mel volunteered to go. "On one condition. I want to go to Tibby's and have a chocolate milk." Racetrack rolled his eyes and motioned for Mel to follow him. They went towards Tibby's.  
  
"I'll sit here and wait with Amanda!" I called. I turned to look at Amanda and saw tears slowly slipping out of her eyes.  
  
"Oh my god! Does your ankle hurt that bad. I can run and grab some Motrin or aspirin or something from the jeep."  
  
"No, my ankles fine."  
  
"What's wrong then?" I asked hoping that she would tell me. " We can go up on the roof and talk in private if you want."  
  
Amanda jumped. "Not on the roof!"  
  
"So what's on the roof? You should tell me," I added hoping to disarm her. I helped her upstairs and into the bedroom.  
  
She sighed heavily and slumped onto the bed. "I went up on the roof-" she started and as she told the story she gradually picked up speed. "I went up onto the roof to put my hair straightener away. I was on the opposite of the car when Jack stepped on to the roof. He was followed by a girl with long black hair and dark skin. She had a high pitched annoying giggle," Amanda added defensively. I was tempted to say like you don't, but decided not to. She continued, "and they started talking and getting closer together. And she was leaning in and whispering. And he was obviously into what she was saying. Then she grabbed his hand and he didn't pull away. I was so upset I slid down the side of the car and starting crying. I didn't get up until I heard them leave."  
  
It couldn't be. "Did you hear them say anything?" I was hanging on every word.  
  
"I heard a little stuff like 'get together' and 'at the bridge' and 'tomorrow'. They were planning to get together! I know they were. He really didn't like me after all!!!"  
  
I was angry. "He does too. They were definitely talking about something else. I'm positive. He would never do anything like that because everyone knows he likes you. I mean come on, he got rid of Sarah for you. Just wait and see until Friday. If he ever liked anyone else, he won't by the time we're finished with that dance." I smiled at her hoping it was true. I didn't want to say that it sounded suspiciously like Sapphire, because that would have made Amanda more upset than she was.   
  
That Sapphire was becoming a one-girl disease. She didn't need to multiply, she was already everywhere. I secretly wished that she hadn't gotten to Bumlets yet. Meanwhile Amanda took my silence as doubt. "Do you really think so?"  
  
"Oh yes. That's why we need to work on it as much as possible. Tonight we're all going to Medda's to practice on the stage and work on our costumes. Forget about Jack for right now. Work on the dance-"  
  
"Definitely."  
  
"-And wiggling your hips-"  
  
"Yup."  
  
"There you go." 


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15  
  
We occupied ourselves with tic-tac-toe and Mel came back with Racetrack at noon. They had bonded over Racetrack losing money at the stables. The doctor arrived shortly thereafter and pronounced Amanda and Mel well. Ooh that rhymes. "Alright then! Lets get going. We gotta buy a paper to see if Denton kept his side of the promise. We have to find Lily and Sniffles and get our costumes together. We have to practice the dance on the stage and get ready for Friday. Then we're having dinner at Tibby's," I read off my 3 by 5 card. "Are we ready?"  
  
"Let's go." We trooped off to the main square. We bought a paper off of one of the newsies from the New York Sun. I opened it and we searched for Denton's article. "It's not in here," said Amanda, grabbing it and flipping through the pages.  
  
"You know why it's not in there?" asked Melanie. Amanda and I looked at her with questioning glances. She pointed to the front page. "It's on the front!" she screamed and started dancing.   
  
We turned to the front page. And there it was in 50 point font. Amanda and I started screaming and jumping up and down. We ran to go find Lily and Sniffles. We found them with Kid Blink and Mush at a pretzel vendor and eagerly showed them the article. They started jumping and screaming too. Lily turned to Sniffles and stated, "We should go tell the factory girls and show them. They would definitely strike now knowing that someone's behind their efforts." They grabbed Kid Blink and Mush and rushed off with the paper.  
  
"Meet us at Medda's!" we called after them. I think they nodded. We set off for Medda's  
  
We pushed open the stage door at the back and peered into the darkness. "Hello?" but no one answered and the lights were dark. We stepped inside like adventurers who were not afraid, but it was spooky. We heard footsteps but with the great acoustics we couldn't place where they were coming from. We continued on until Mel was tapped on the shoulder. She screamed.  
  
"Chill. It's just me."  
  
"Me is who?" I asked although the voice sounded faintly familiar.  
  
"Ellyn." A lighted match appeared and I could see Ellyn's face in the shadows. "Follow me." So we did. "You guys came to give me your costume patterns right?" We nodded but of course she couldn't see. "The light are off because its so hot. Medda doesn't want to burn up when she takes the stage. Especially in those heavy costumes of hers. I'm working on getting her into lighter type of fabric, but for you guys-" she flipped a switch and lights illuminated rows upon rows of dresses.  
  
There were all types. From summer day dresses to fancy ball gowns. I think I even spotted a wedding dress. There were all colors of the rainbow and every muted shade in between. We gasped in awe. Ellyn went down a row and we followed her like zombies. She added over her shoulder, "I made most of these myself. I have the license to do whatever I want here. I love it. What I'm hoping is that you guys can find something in all of this that you like so I don't have to sew new ones. I pulled out a few that might be easier to dance in over there." She gestured and continued talking, "There's even some pantaloons modified for stage. But if worse comes to worse, I'll throw together your ideas by Friday." She turned and left. We could only nod in reply as stunned as we were. Then we spread out to look for dresses.  
  
Ellyn stuck her head back in soon after. "Your friends are here. Show them around; I gotta finish these undergarments." She held up some cow print fabric and giggled mischievously.  
  
Lily and Sniffles stuck their heads in. "Wow, you guys. This is so cool." Sniffles breathed. She must have picked it up from Amanda, Mel or I. Mel explained what was happening.   
  
They began to search also.   
  
Two hours later, Ellyn came back as promised. "Are these for the dance or the ball afterwards?"  
  
"Well," said Lily cautiously, "the dance is going to be real hard in these, at leas the dance we've been practicing." She looked at Melanie for confirmation.  
  
Mel added, "We're gonna need to modify." She dropped her dresses on the concrete floor with ours and sat Indian style next to Ellyn. Ellyn was thinking. "All your dresses are widely different colors from each other." We looked around and found it was true. My picks were black, Amanda's were mostly lavender, and Mel's selections all had a blue hue. Tina had several different shades of red from pink to cherry red. Laura was slightly different; she had some yellow and some greens mostly olive and forest shades. "That's good," continued Ellyn, "We can shock the world and make them shorter or we can make matching bottoms of pantaloons."  
  
"Let's vary for effect. Shorts, skirts, pants, capris, etc" I said. Melanie brought sketches out of her backpack. Stuff like this."  
  
Ellyn switched subjects and left us in the dust. "Have you practiced on the stage yet?" We shook our heads. "Let's do that and I'll make recommendations and well go from there."  
  
"It's gonna take us two or three times to even look decent," said Sniffles  
  
"Especially me," piped in Amanda. Everybody laughed.  
  
"We haven't even practiced with the bar yet," Mel pointed out.  
  
"That we can handle, Mel," said Ellyn, "I'll go get Toby because he knows where he put it."  
  
"We'll get ready." Everybody nodded and went to go get ready. The afternoon passed quickly and we got all the costumes done.  
  
"Let's go through it one more time," called a voice from the seats. Medda stepped into view. "I love it girls. It'll be a showstopper. Maybe you should go after me, instead of the other way around. But do it again to make sure I've seen it all."   
  
We started the music up again. We were halfway through when we heard clapping. We froze and peered out into the darkness. The music continued without us. "That was fabulous!" a male voice announced, "Medda, are they performing on Friday?"  
  
"Yes they are, Denton. I'm actually proud of them."  
  
The horrified looks on our faces must've shown through the lights. "Denton! You can't tell!" called Mel anxiously.  
  
"I won't. Your surprise is safe with me. But it looks good. Did you see the paper today girls?"  
  
We all moved over to the end of the stage and sat with our feet dangling. I answered him. "Yes we did."  
  
Sniffles added, "We went and told the factory girls too. The word is spreading Denton, They'll strike tomorrow. Just wait and see."  
  
Denton leaned on the stage. "I'm glad to hear it. So what's this thing all about anyway?" We quickly began telling our plans, interrupting each other and spilling over our words. I think we amused him. 


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16  
WE spent most of the night finishing our costumes and rolled into bed around midnight. The guys were already asleep. Someone gently pushing my shoulder awakened me in the morning. "No Mel. I'm not getting up." There was quiet laughter and then I was dragged out of bed and onto the floor. "Mel this is getting ridiculous…oh Bumlets. Hey."  
He pulled me to my feet and led me to the roof. The sky was just beginning to pale with sunlight. He sat down facing the sunrise. "What's going on?" I asked. However, he didn't answer. I was forced to join him on the concrete. "Well?"  
"Isn't it pretty?" he asked grinning mischievously.  
"Ummm." I decided not to point out that the smog was slightly distorting the view and hoping that this wasn't supposed to be romantic. Well, I guess if you discounted everything wrong with it, it could be cute.  
Bumlets gave me a sideways glance. "You aren't still mad at me, are you?"  
"In the dawn light, everything is forgiven," I said, giving him a quick hug which he returned quickly.  
"Good," he answered, "because I didn't do anything wrong anyway." He laughed and put his arm around my shoulder, pulling me close. WE continued to watch the sunrise.  
"Today the factory workers are going to strike."  
He looked at me in surprise. "Today? Like we did? That's pretty good. They needed to do it soon because no one should have to deal with those violations of basic human decency."  
"Denton wrote an article to help the girls gain confidence that someone cared."  
"That's funny because I didn't know you could write an expose without going undercover." I tried tp picture Denton undercover as a factory girl. It didn't work. Bumlets gave me a funny look. "What's that noise?" He pointed towards the main square where I heard what he was talking about. Loud shouting was faintly audible.  
"THE STRIKE!!!!" I yelled and pulled Bumlets to his feet. "We have to go wake up everybody else!" I jogged down the stairs.  
"You're really excited about this aren't you?" Bumlets called after me struggling to keep up.  
I flew down the rest of the stairs and yelled back, "Of course! We're making history!"  
"Okay," he panted.  
Once inside, I scrambled around waking everyone up. "Guys! Get up! The STRIKE!!!"  
Mel shot up straight in bed. "At the factory?"  
"No. They're at the main square." Mel rushed to get dressed and hit Amanda on the way. Bumlets was pushing newsies out of their beds. "Guys! We gotta show our support!" In less than ten minutes everyone was up and about and running towards the square.  
The square was pandemonium. Loud shouts combined with the noisy march of the protesters to equal one confused din. WE were astonished by the amount of girls walking up and down the streets. Lily and Sniffles led the pack. We started cheering in support and the it added to the confusion. It couldn't have been mistaken for anything but support however.  
"But they need a chant," Amanda yelled above the noise into my ear. She pulled me into a side alley. "come up with some ideas and quickly."  
I looked at her in shock. "I don't think on demand!"  
"They're not gonna be heard when its all a mass of confusion. No one's gonna take them seriously."  
"Well when you're right, you're right."  
"I know." She smiled and struck a pose.  
I started thinking. "2, 4, 6, we don't want to integrate" wasn't gonna work. All those cheerleader cheers sounded stupid here at the turn of the century. I was at a loss and Amanda was staring at me expectantly. "Equal rights for improved lives" was okay but it was missing all the suffering the girls went through. And it needed to be short and to the point.  
"Robyn, hurry up! They're losing momentum out there."  
"I'm thinking! As soon as I come up with it, it's gonna be spectacular." She groaned.  
A couple of minutes later a light bulb appeared over my head. "I got one. But it's kinda long. It goes like this-" I whispered it into her ear.  
"Works for me we'll just split them into two groups and have our way with it. Let's go." WE raced out of the alley and towards Lily and Sniffles. They looked disheartened.  
"Guys, it isn't working. No one's paying attention to us!" They looked like they were about to cry.  
Amanda put her arms around their shoulders and said, "You need a chant! Every successful thing through out history has a chant…I think. Anyway, Robyn came up with one-"  
"But it's stupid," I interjected.  
"No it's not. You need more confidence. What we need to do is separate them into two groups. You and I take the lead of one. Robyn and Lily will take the other. We'll say the first two lines. They'll say the second. That way it will be clear and audible." It took us five minutes to organize especially with all the noise.   
It became silent as the word passed around about what we were going to do. Then Sniffles, Amanda and those close to her screamed the first two lines, "Hey girls we're on a mission! We're gonna improve disgusting conditions!"  
It was our turn. Lily and me screamed the next two lines. "They aren't satisfactory at inner city factories!"  
Slowly word got around and the chant was loud and clear. People began to stop their activities on nearby streets and it gave the girls hope. Big smiles appeared all around.  
The strike continued for most of the afternoon before a representative appeared to talk to Lily and Sniffles. They were led away by a bunch of men in fancy suits and we knew that their plea had been heard.  
We had dinner at Tibby's and we didn't have to pay because the restaurant paid for it. I love a good philanthropist. We were rowdy, all excited about the first day of the strike and how quickly it was going. I was sitting at a table with Bumlets, Amanda, Melanie, and Jack. Jack and Amanda weren't talking to each other but were alternately staring at each other. I whispered to Mel, "We gotta fix that issue. Who gets to talk to Jack?"  
"No one," she replied. Oh so now she using my methods, not fair.  
Bumlets grabbed my arm. "What are you whispering about?"  
Quickly I came up with an answer. "Mel never got to see the Brooklyn Bridge. She wants to go yell off it or something."  
"That's easily solvable. We'll take her up there tonight. We gotta pick up Spot anyway."  
"Bad idea." I shook my head.  
"No Jack's plans are always a good idea." Bumlets smiled knowingly.  
"Jack's plans! Look what he did to Amanda?" That kinda pissed me off.  
He was confused, but I couldn't explain because just then Sniffles and Lily burst in the door.  
They each fell into a seat, their faces flushed with happiness. Everybody clustered around them asking them what happened. Lily gestured for quiet and Sniffles raised her arms in an expansive gesture. The room was silent when she proclaimed, "We formed a union." Lily started laughing. The rest of us looked around at each other confused. She continued, "We formed a union because on the way in they started hassling us. They're really scared about unions. So we formed one and got-" she paused for emphasis, but Lily finished, "Exactly what we wanted!" The place erupted in cheers. Sniffles gestured for quiet again and Lily continued, "We'll celebrate by combining a factory girls party with Medda's tenth anniversary party tomorrow."  
Someone whistled and yelled, "Girls? I'm definitely coming." There was a huge amount of laughter.  
Lily finished with, "You guys can go back to eating now." The waiter brought the two girls each a hot dog. They squished into our table and separated the girls from the boys. Sniffles did a stage whisper, "We need to practice you guys, when can we do it?"  
"All tomorrow," I replied.  
"And tonight," added Mel looking at me.  
"No. Tonight we're going to the bridge." A smile lit Mel's face.  



	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17  
  
It had been an early dinner so we made it Brooklyn before dark. Just before. I mean basically as dark was settling over the city, holding its reign…err…I grabbed Bumlets' hand. He looked at me in surprise. Amanda then grabbed mine. "This city is very scary at night." I nodded.  
  
Jack sidled up next to Bumlets careful not to look at Amanda. "Come with me to get Spot." I swear he winked. Bumlets let go of my hand and they disappeared into the gloom.  
  
"Wait a sec! You're leaving us here all alone in the dark in BROOKLYN?!!!" Mel shouted after them.   
  
Me, Mel, and Amanda continued carefully towards the bridge. "I don't like cities," I said.  
  
"Oh I love them," said Mel, "when I can see them." She was fiddling nervously with her plastic beaded necklace. It was the one her four year old buddy back home had made for her with Mel's name on it, she wore it everywhere.  
  
"I don't think Jack really likes me," said Amanda quietly.  
  
Mel and I contradicted her at the same time. "Of course he does!" We stopped our progress and gave her a hard look.  
  
"No, he doesn't. I mean he doesn't even look sorry about yesterday-"  
  
"He is. I promise," said I, "Now stop thinking negatively or the bridge is gonna disappear."  
  
"What?" said Mel confused. But then there was the bridge. Mel saw it first and started to run. I ran after her pulling Amanda after me. The infrastructure amazed me; it was huge. Ugly kinda, but big and definitely solid. Mel ran down the sidewalk to the very middle and screamed off it. We could only shake our heads in wonderment. She came back soon after. "Alright. We can go now; I'm satisfied."  
  
"Not so fast." We spun around at the noise and saw dark shapes in the dusk.  
  
"Whoa! Who's that?"  
  
"I'm offended! How could you not know who I am?" said the feminine voice, "I'm your worst nightmare morons, now hand over all jewels and property that might be valuable to me." She added,   
"Now!" I guess because we weren't moving fast enough. The only person wearing jewelry was Mel and I knew she was loath to take the necklace off. The voice stepped into the light and revealed itself as Sapphire, our one women campaign to ruin our vacation.  
  
"Sorry dude, jewelry stays with us," said Amanda sounding braver then she probably was. She was on the other side of Mel. I heard the click of a gun being loaded. Oh boy, we're in trouble. "I took Tai Kwon Do," said Amanda a little too loudly, her voice shaking, "Don't mess with us." People were approaching us from behind. Damn! No way out.  
  
"What are we going to do?" whispered Melanie. "I knew Sapphire was bad."  
  
"I'm not quite sure." Suddenly arms were around my neck and dragging me to the ground. I tried to tell them that I was moneyless and had no jewelry, but they were cutting off the circulation. Oh man this was gonna suck. I couldn't see what was happening to Mel and Amanda but I hoped she had given up the jewelry. Right after I thought that, I blacked out.  
*******  
"RAVEN!!!!" I sat up straight and hit my head on someone's shoulder. It didn't help the humungous headache I had.  
  
"What happened?" I asked shakily.  
  
"You don't remember the bunch of thugs?" That was Mel. "They came out of nowhere and attacked us."  
  
"Yes yes I remember that. What happened after that?" I probably sounded annoyed. I looked around, as my vision cleared, I saw Spot, Jack, Amanda, Melanie, and my head was in Bumlets' lap.  
  
Amanda cleared up my confusion. "Well they grabbed you and I saw you fall to the ground. They grabbed Mel and pulled the necklace off her neck, and I beat off my attackers with my tae kwon do. Then out of nowhere Bumlets Jack and Spot appeared and helped me finish the job."  
  
Mel looked sad as she said, "they got my necklace though."  
  
Spot made some movement out of the corner of my eye. "No they didn't," he contradicted her and he handed her the necklace she thought was lost. "I grabbed it back from the dope I was chasing."   
  
Mel's face erupted in a huge smile. "Thanks, Spot."  
  
"Not a problem," he replied. "We'd better get out of here in case they come back." He winked at Jack. Bumlets helped me to my feet and we began to walk home.  
  
"Does it hurt?" he asked me.  
  
"No, but there's something fishy going on between you three guys." I got the most innocent look ever in return. "Explain." I grabbed his arm and slowed our pace considerably so that we lagged behind the rest.  
  
"Jack's plan, of course."  
  
I groaned. "And what exactly is Jack's plan?"  
  
"It's to get Mel and Spot together because they like each other real bad." I decided not to point out the Jack's love life left something to be desired. "The thing with Sapphire in the park? Completely bogus to show Spot that she liked him because she would get all mad and everything and we could tell him her reactions. He didn't believe us that she liked him. Plus he's got the whole reputation as a lady's man so it really worked out good." I could only marvel at the stupidity. "Tonight," Bumlets started grinning, "We got to bunch of Brooklyn newsies to pretend to rob you guys so Spot could come in and save the day for Melanie."  
  
"WHAT?!?!?! I almost died." I glared at Bumlets.  
  
"I know. I'm kinda mad about that part. They weren't supposed to go that far."  
  
"And furthermore although the Sapphire thing makes sense in a roundabout MALE way, it doesn't really matter anyway because Amanda likes Jack and he's making out with Sapphire."  
  
"What! No. Who told you that?"  
  
I stopped walking and turned to face him. "Yesterday morning Jack was up on the roof in a close and cuddly position with Sapphire just in time for Amanda to come see. That was probably the best planning of all." I had my hands on my hips and everything.  
  
Bumlets muttered in wonderment, "We all just thought Curly had commitment issues." To me he said, "That's not it at all. Sapphire was the head of our little plan. Remember she was here tonight? Jack needed to tell her what to do and when to come next. Just in case Spot liked her, we showed him that she was purely and truly evil. Because she is. Jack likes Curly and can't figure out why she got so cold. Just wait until I tell him! He'll be hysterically happy. That's so easily fixable."  
  
I sighed. "That's so marvelously complicated. We could've just had a meeting and played truth or dare."  
  
Bumlets was not to be disappointed. "Will you come to Medda's with me tomorrow as a date?" 


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18   
  
I woke up the next morning with a huge smile on my face. Things were going to be okay after all. After having Jack's plan explained to me, all the strange events made sense. And I had a date to Medda's, although I had explained to him that I would be late because I was helping backstage for the concert. I told him I would meet him there. Us five girls pretended to sleep late in order to fool the guys. It wasn't hard because we had all had big days the day before. Nothing makes you more tired than almost being killed. We ended up at Medda's around 10 in the morning.   
  
Ellyn had our costumes ready. She had offered to do our ballgowns and we had taken her up on the offer, but she wasn't quite finished with those. She laid out our costumes on the table. She first pointed to a red two piece outfit, it was a halter top that comes to a point at ones belly button with a pair of matching shorts, and matching mid-calf boots. It came with a pair of gloves with the fingers cut out. "This one is for Sniffles." OOHs and AHHs all around.   
  
The next was a pale yellow fitted dress where the straps would hang just off the shoulders with a belt made of rings sitting low on the hips, with strappy sandals and regular kid gloves. "This one is for Lily. And this one is for Curly." It was a lavender empire waist top with spaghetti straps that criss-crossed in the back over matching capris and matching gloves that started up at her elbows ended in a v-shape at her hand and a pair of clunky, but cute matching sandals.   
  
Ellyn gestured to the next outfit in line. "Melanie's" was all she said. It was a royal blue top with a faux corset front with thin straps and a matching short skirt with slits up the sides (You could see shorts underneath for modesty purposes, you know being the early 19th century and all) and matching knee high clunky boots that lace up on the sides. Added in were some spectacular long royal blue gloves that ended above the elbows.   
  
My outfit was last on the table and totally in black. "You're gonna be hot on stage with that color, so the material is fairly lightweight, the lightest I could find."   
  
"I know and thank you," I replied extremely happy with what I saw lying there. I had a long skirt with slits up to my thighs so I could move in and dance in it. My top was a modified muscle shirt dyed black and the straps made thinner than normal. I had a pair of Medda's old dance shoes, also dyed and polished for me to wear over fishnet stockings.   
  
"Alright," said Ellyn, "You'd better be happy with them because I worked hard on them and that's what you're wearing, ok?" there was a chorus of "thank you Ellyn!!!"s from everyone. "Well I think you guys should practice a few times in your costumes. Oh and by the way, there are matching chokers for each of you too."   
  
"Is there a place where we can put these on?" Melanie asked.   
  
"Yes, follow me," Ellyn responded.   
  
We followed Ellyn to the dressing rooms and put on our outfits. They all seemed to fit nicely. We went back out to the stage and practiced in them for a bit.   
  
While Mel was going over a few steps with Amanda, and the rest of us were taking a break, there was a knock at the backstage door. Ellyn answered it. "Hello, may I help you?"   
  
It was Jack. "Bumlets mentioned that Curly and the girls were helping Medda today; I was wondering if she was here."   
  
"Yes she is," Ellyn responded.   
  
"Could I talk to her for a moment?"   
  
"No."   
  
"Why not?"   
  
"Because you're a dork," and with that she shut the door in his face. Ellyn had been informed of his sutpidity and could call him that. Just then Medda walked by wondering, "Was that Jack? What was he doing here?"   
  
"No no no no, it was definitely a dork," Ellyn answered.   
  
Medda gave her a puzzled look, started to say something, and walked away.   
  
At this point it was time for lunch, so we joined up with all of the newsies at Tibby's. They were all excitedly chatting about the party for that evening. We just smiled and played along with their excitement.   
  
Lily looked around desperately for Dave, but to no avail. "Jack, where's Dave? He said he'd be back today."   
  
"His train doesn't arrive until two, but don't worry, he'll be there at the party. I'll make sure of it," Jack responded with a wink.   
  
That made Lily feel better and she returned to her meal.   
  
Jack, then, got up from his seat and walked over to Amanda. "Could I talk to you for a second?" Then he added, "in private," gesturing us to go away. We reluctantly obeyed. I made sure I sat in earshot of their conversation and that Mel was as far away as possible. I had a feeling Jack was going to explain everything to Amanda, plan and all. That is exactly what he did. When he finished, he looked at Amanda expectantly for a response.   
  
She hesitated at first and took a deep breath. "I forgive you and I just hope you can forgive me for the way I've been acting."   
  
"On one condition."   
  
"What's that?" Amanda looked at him suspiciously.   
  
"That you be my girl and my date to the party at Medda's tonight."   
  
"I'd love to!" she responded. "But," Jack's face fell, "I'll have to meet you there because I have to help backstage."   
  
Jack just smiled and leaned in to kiss Amanda, and she received it gladly. Hoots and hollers came from all around.   
  
After lunch, it was time for us to get ready. Melanie's hair all done up in curlers was a pretty funny sight and Amanda straightening her hair AGAIN was too much. Lily was twisting her hair around into all sorts of things trying to figure out what to do with it. Sniffles was sitting in front of the mirror with Mel standing behind her making the ends of her short hair curl under. I wasn't sure yet what I wanted to do with my hair, but worst of all the room reeked of hairspray.   
  
Medda came in later to help us with our makeup so we wouldn't look washed out on stage.   
  
"I feel like a clown!" Amanda complained making faces at herself in the mirror. We just laughed. 


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19   
  
The auditorium was dark, but there was a dull roar of newsies, factory workers, and friends of Medda's trying to find seats. The butterflies in my stomach were fluttering at top speed. Then the curtains opened with a spotlight on Medda. She started singing "My Lovey Dovey Baby."   
  
"Does she sing anything else?" I thought to myself. I looked over at my friends behind me. We all looked gorgeous. Amanda had twisted her chocolate brown hair up into a butterfly clip. Sniffles' white blonde hair was parted on the left with a single red clip keeping her hair from falling into her face. Lily's dark brown hair was parted in a zigzag part on her left and coiled into a beautiful bun. My hair was just pulled back from my face with a few bobby pins and hung down with its natural waves and tiny braids peeked out in various spots. Melanie's hair was in soft curls around her face. Everyone had on their accessories and outfits. We were ready.   
  
The curtain shut behind Medda with the spotlight still on her. The audience applauded and many catcalled.   
  
"Aren't you going to sing another song Medda?" Kid Blink asked, more like yelled over the noise.   
  
"Well actually," she started, but paused waiting for the audience to settle down. "Actually, I'm not going to sing another song just yet, but, oh," she paused trying to decide what to say, "oh, just watch it, I know you will like it." With that, she scurried off the stage.   
  
The curtains opened to reveal five curvy silhouettes and a bar in the middle of the stage. The entire hall went dead silent. The music started. At the precise moment in unison, we switched poses.   
  
"Hey fella can I talk to you for a second? What'sa hard man…" Mel turned and lip-synched with the music until Lily's line interrupted.   
  
"Hey good looking, I like your hair."   
  
Now it was my turn, "Hey mister, got a cigarette for me huh?"   
  
Next was Sniffles, "Monsieur, you speak French? Par lez vous frances?"   
  
Amanda followed her with, "hey cowboy, you want to dance? A little dance wouldn't hurt you."   
  
Mel piped up again from her spot at the bar, "guy, you want to tango? It always takes two to tango."   
  
"Ooooh, you're soo taall," came from Sniffles.   
  
And I finished with a false deep bored voice, "let's have some fun."   
  
Again we switched poses and began to lip-synch the words of the song. We didn't move an inch from where we were hanging on the bar until there was a break between the verses. This is when Mel led the way by sliding from her position literally on top of the bar and strode out to the front and center edge of the stage. We followed, but Lily went to the far right of the stage, Amanda went between her and Mel, I was on the other side of Mel, and Tina was on the far left of the stage. This is the part we had left for free-styling and flirting up close and personal with the audience. It was amazing how our boys had positioned themselves in the front seats. I was gonna have a talk with Denton before the night was over.   
  
I watched everyone out of the corner of my eye, Lily was doing the little dance we had come up for her because she wasn't quite up for flirting too much with the audience. Sniffles, on the other hand, had gotten totally into it and was sitting in Mush's lap. Amanda was totally leading Jack and the guys around him on and adoring the attention. Melanie was showing off her flexibility with high kicks, layouts, and splits. The best moment came when she got right into Spot's face as if she was going to kiss him, but blew him off by kissing Racetrack on the cheek instead. Their reactions were hysterical! I guess she thought she could do this because they didn't know who she was or any of us for that matter. I showed off my belly dancing skills, and did my share of flirting too, especially with Bumlets. By this point in the song, we regrouped for an ending pose. It ended with Mel lip-synching, "how's about it palsey?" She winked visibly. Then all of us finished with "yeah."   
  
The audience was awestruck, nobody moved. That was until Racetrack stood up with his very visible kiss on his cheek, and began applauding vigorously, shouting catcalls. The rest of the newsies followed, then the rest of the audience did too. The curtain closed, but the audience was still going. We joined in with our screams of "WE DID IT!! WE DID IT!!" Then we ran off the stage high-fiving or hugging everybody we passed. 


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20  
  
As we ran into the dressing rooms, Ellyn was waiting for us with a new stack of clothes. She was dressed in a fancy something very Ellyn. "You're coming out with us?" Mel asked.  
  
"Well of course, I gotta mingle because the local theater awards are coming up. My costumes are up for top prize in the category."  
  
"Excellent," I cried. "Can I vote? Because I wasn't even hot in that black material on stage. You're a friggin genius." Ellyn turned a deep pink and moved off to one of the numerous stacks of clothes.  
  
"I like your dress too," commented Sniffles kicking off her shoes.  
  
"Well yours are in this stack with coordinating colors of course. Did they recognize you on stage?"  
  
"No-" started Mel.  
  
"Hell yeah," I finished, "We weren't trying to hide." Mel gave me look of disbelief. "Oh come on Mel, even if you hadn't shoved yourself in Spot's face, Racetrack knew who you were. Once Sniffles jumped into Mush's lap, I think it became rather obvious."  
  
Laura came up dressed in a pale yellow ballgown with a huge smile on her face.. "I saw David! I'm gonna go find him and ask him what she thought." She rushed out of the room.  
  
Amanda came up in her purple ball gown. She put her arms around both our shoulders. "I do believe that my man is waiting for me. See y'all later!" And she tiptoed gingerly out of the room in her high heels. We saw Sniffles sneak out the door in her red ballgown.  
  
"Bye!" We called to her and went to get dressed.  
  
Five minutes later I had finally won out over the dress. "I don't remember making this so low cut in that drawing," I said pulling at the material and tripping in the high heels. It was a dark gray color and more cotton than satin. I hadn't opted for the whole silky about to fall off feeling and instead my material felt open and airy. The dress had a lace fringe on the bottom and at the end of the three-quarter sleeves. I had opted for a 18th century look and therefore the fancy outerpart of my dress didn't extend to the front. There was white cotton layers there with lace artfully decorating it. Ellyn had said that most of my dress hadn't needed to be made because what I wanted was so close to an old style summer dress.  
  
Mel settled comfortably into a nearby chair and started laughing at the sight I made. "I gotta admit Robyn, dresses aren't your normal style. That can be your excuse. 'Sorry Bumlets, you should've picked a girly girl. But, wow! Robyn, it's really pretty."  
  
"Thanks. Hey, why haven't you gotten dressed yet? I thought you would be one of the first ones out of here!"  
  
Mel shrugged and took a sip of water from her water bottle. "I'm not quite up to wanting to go out there just yet."  
  
I looked at her in disbelief, "what?! You've been looking forward to this all week!"  
  
"Well…maybe when Spot leaves."  
  
She stopped when she saw my look. "Mel?"  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"You're going out there."  
  
"That's pretty funny Robyn, but…nope!"  
  
I picked up her dress and handed it to her. Then I shoved her behind the changing screen. She just stood there, I could tell by the shadows. "You're being ridiculous," I called over the screen, "Now get dressed you're needed for a game of truth or dare." Wait, did I say that? Wow, that's precisely how Spot and Mel are going to find out. Wow, I am a genius.  
  
"Truth or dare? Oh no, that doesn't sound good. You go on ahead. I'll meet you there." She said it in one of her extremely innocent voices.  
  
"MELANIE!" I yelled at her. She peeked out from behind the screen to see me glaring at her with my hands on my hips. Maybe that's what finally convinced her.  
  
"Fine! I'm coming."  
  
Mel dressed out of her costume and into her dress. It was long flowing and a royal blue color. There were spaghetti straps that crisscrossed in the back and then there was a thin gold design around the outer edges of the dress and up the slit. She kept on her gloves and choker, and added her butterfly necklace.  
  
"You look beautiful, now come on!" I grabbed her arm and dragged her out of the dressing room. We stopped at the top of the stairs that looked over the hall.  
  
"Hey Robyn! There's David! Oh he and Lily look so happy together! Let's go say hi!" Mel said, obviously trying to stall the game of truth or dare. But, I figured it was a legitimate excuse because we should be sitting. I looked around to see who they were sitting with. Sniffles was next to Lily, and of course, Mush was next to her. On the other side of Mush, Kid Blink, Racetrack, Bumlets, Amanda, Jack, then Spot sat in order squished close together. Then we were back around the table to David. GREAT! Just the people I wanted for truth or dare.  
  
"Hey Lily! Is this the David we keep hearing about?" Mel asked cheerfully, knowing full well the answer, she's only seen the movie, what, a couple hundred times?  
  
"Hey Mel, hi Raven. I'd like you to meet David," Lily introduced.  
  
"Nice to meet you ladies," he said as he shook our hands, "I loved your dance, it was very well done."  
  
"Thank you," Mel and I responded at the same time.  
  
"Why didn't you tell us you were doing that?" Kid Blink asked curiously.  
  
"We wanted it to be a surprise," answered Mel.  
  
"And what a beautiful surprise it was too!" Racetrack interjected. All of the guys at the table agreed wholeheartedly with this statement, except Spot, he seemed real quiet. Us girls blushed furiously.   
  
"Not surprised you liked it Racetrack," Spot said sarcastically.  
  
Racetrack just smiled knowingly.  
  
"Alright guys," I said as I squeezed a chair in next to Bumlets, "let's play a game."  
  
"You know, I think I'm a little hungry. Actually, why don't I go check out the buffet table and see what's cookin'," Mel said trying to get out of it.  
  
I wiggled a finger at her. "Unh uh, I don't think so. Sit," I said pointing to an empty chair between Spot and David. She glared at me, but reluctantly sat down. 


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21  
  
"What sort of game is this?" Racetrack asked interested.  
  
"Oh, it's a fun one," said Mel sarcastically.  
  
"It's called truth or dare." They all nodded like they knew what was going on. "The rules go like this: 1) anyone can ask the questions. 2) You ask this, "truth or dare?" Then the person who is asked has to choose one or the other. If it's a dare, make up one and make it good. If it's a truth ask them to tell the group something that's a truth. 3) You have to do whatever you're asked or told to do, no questions asked." I had my audience awed.  
  
"Who starts?" asked Kid Blink.  
  
"Me!" I shouted energetically. "Are you ready?" They nodded. "Kid Blink, truth or dare."  
  
"Truth," he said confidently and winked at his compadres.  
  
"Is it true," I paused for dramatic affect, "that your eye patch is fake and only used to get girls?"  
  
He started blushing and looked away, "Yes."  
  
"Alright, you're finished. Your turn to ask."  
  
Kid Blink turned to Racetrack. "Racetrack, truth or dare."  
  
"Heck if I'm gonna choose truth. Dare."  
  
Kid Blink suppressed a laugh. "I dare you to go moon Medda's high-faultin' hoighty-toighty aristocratic friends at that table over there."  
  
Racetrack's eyes got real big. "What? Medda will never let me back in here!"  
  
"Are you chicken? Boc-boc…"  
  
"NO!" He reluctantly pushed himself up from the table and strolled nonchalantly over to the other table. Now I didn't actually see what happened, but I saw the reactions of the adults. They were hysterical, all screaming and the men laughing. Racetrack bolted back to our table pulling his pants up. "Ya know, I think I'm done with this game." He left us heading for the buffet table.  
  
"Alright. My turn! My turn!" Amanda wiggled in her seat and threw her hands about in the air, catching on to my game. "Bumlets, truth or dare."  
  
"I ain't doing nothing that Racetrack had to do," he laughed nervously, "truth."   
  
"Alright then, did you tell Robyn Jack's plan?" It became very quiet at the table. Bumlets got that 'deer in the headlight look' and looked nervously at Jack. Jack looked confused. He glanced at me and coughed.  
  
Everyone looked at each other and at various time said, "What's Jack's plan?" or "What's he talking about?"  
  
"Well answer…" I whispered through a forced smile. After I elbowed him in the ribs, he glared at me angrily. He faced the table and it's occupants. "Yes," he choked.  
  
"Alright Bumlets it's your turn to ask," I said.  
  
"No no no," Mush spoke up.  
  
"Hey! He talks!" Amanda laughed.  
  
"I wanna go. Personally, I like this game. Now that I understand it, I wanna go. I'm next."  
  
"Okay, Mush. You can go next," said Bumlets, trying to get out of the limelight.  
  
"Jack! Buddy, old pal! Truth or dare."  
  
Jack hesitated. "Ummmmmm…errrrrr…humana…gosh…dare." Amanda nudged him quickly and he winced. "I mean truth." She smiled at him.  
  
Mush pulled a slightly sinister voice out. "Explain your plan."  
  
"What's with this plan thing? How come I was never told? How come I'm NEVER told?" Mel asked, slightly irritated.  
  
"You're not the only one. How come I don't know anything about this either?!" Spot sounded much angrier.  
  
And so, the beans spilled. The audience gasped, cooed, and awed in all the right places. Spot, in turn, turned red, than purple, then green, and then orange. Melanie just turned pink. Spot stood up and pushed away from the table. "I can't believe you did all this. I think that's just a bunch of s***!" And he stomped off. Then he stomped back and grabbed Melanie. "I never liked Sapphire anyway." He pulled Melanie to her feet.  
  
"What are you doing?" She looked faintly pleased, but struggled anyway.  
  
"Didn't you hear? There's a last dance call."  
  
"Last dance call? I didn't-," He winked at her. She caught on and followed him to the dance floor. They waltzed off into the artificial sunset.  
  
"Hey Lily, would you care to join me on the dance floor?" asked David, like a gentleman. She gratefully accepted and they walked to the dance floor.   
  
Mush and Sniffles headed out the door clutching each other's hands.  
  
Amanda pulled Jack to his feet. "Oh yeah baby, we're dancing. Let's go." And he followed her.  
  
Kid Blink randomly walked towards a group of giggling girls.  
*****  
"So did you see the show?" I overheard Spot asking Mel as they danced.  
  
"Yeah, Medda was great, but does she sing any other songs?"  
  
"Some, but that one is a real crowd pleaser, but, uh, did you see the one after Medda?"  
  
"There was one after Medda?"  
  
"Oh yeah, it was great!"  
  
"Really? What did you like about it?"  
  
"Well there was this one dancer who caught my eye."  
  
"Oh yeah, and which one would that be?"  
  
"Well, she was really pretty, very sexy. I think she was wearing blue, and she had the brightest hazel eyes I had ever seen, kind of like yours."  
  
"How could you see her eyes so clearly if she was on stage?" Mel inquired.  
  
"I was sitting up front and center 'cause Denton told me I had to for some reason and 'cause I needed to talk to Race about something and he was already sitting there. Anyways, there was this one part in the dance where the girls got up close and personal, flirtin' with us."  
  
"Oh, I'm sure you enjoyed that."  
  
Spot smirked. "You know that girl I was talking about?" Mel nodded. "She came over to where I was sitting."  
  
"Lucky you."  
  
"And that's how I could tell her eye color."  
  
"So what happened next?"  
  
"She came in real close, like she was about to kiss me."  
  
"Like this?" Mel mimicked what she had done earlier.  
  
"Uh huh."  
  
"Then what?"  
  
"She came a little closer."  
  
"Like this?" Mel came closer like she had before. "Then what?"  
  
"She came in real close," their noses were almost touching, "then at the last second she turned her head and kissed Race on the cheek!"  
  
Mel found it very difficult to keep a straight face, so she just gave up. "And the look on your face was priceless!"  
  
Spot glared at her.  
  
"What?! It was only a joke. A mighty funny one at that, but it didn't mean anything. I was only playing my part!...Wait a sec, you're jealous."  
  
"What?! I'm not jealous! Why would I be jealous?"  
  
Mel just smirked at him.  
  
"Alright, so maybe I was a little jealous."  
  
Mel gave him a "yeah right" look.  
  
"Okay, fine, I was jealous."  
  
Mel looked at him in mock disbelief, "was that the infamous Spot Conlon admitting he was jealous? Oh my goodness! What is the world coming to?!"  
  
"Hey, don't advertise it alright?"  
  
Mel smiled back mischievously, Spot glared at her in return.  
  
"Don't worry, I won't," she said. "What were you jealous about anyways?"  
  
"I thought Race had stepped on my toes and took my girl."  
  
Mel scooted a little closer and rested her head on his shoulder. Gosh what dorks. I turned to look a Bumlets.   
  
"Shall we?" Bumlets asked and held out his hands.   
  
"We shall not! Don't you remember what happened last time we danced?"  
  
"Not at all. What happened? You can tell me while we're dancing." He winked at me and I gave in. We started dancing. He was pretty good at it, as I mentioned before, and I did the whole girly thing where I put his head on his shoulder, etc etc. But enough of that.  
  
During a particularly slow song, Bumlets whispered in my ear, "Truth or dare?"  
  
Hunh? Wait, this wasn't supposed to happen to me. "Truth."  
  
"If you had an opportunity to leave here, would you?"  
  
Oops. My eyes grew large, and then for some strange and odd reason, they teared up. I seriously had to think on that one. I like it here and all, but home…modern day…driver's license…grrr. "Yes I would."  
  
Then suddenly the record or whatever screeched to a halt and Bumlets moved away from me. I lost him in the crowd, which had shifted towards the stage. Medda appeared in a new fabulous gown. I panicked as the crowd pressed against the stage, well and because I think I said a very bad thing. It sounded logical and forthright at the time, ya know honesty being the best policy and all that, but…crap! I had to find him. I pushed myself through the crowd as Medda began to sing about a nightingale. I silently willed her to shut up and rushed up the staircase I had slowly walked down…was it only hours ago? I scanned the crowd but couldn't see his head of black hair.  
  
The dress was slowing me down. I tugged at it in frustration. Medda was singing, "Nightingale, when you are singing tenderly, oh tell her nightingale. That it's a lover's melody just so when ever you are singing she'll know the message you are bringing. Nightingale bring back my love to me!" She finished with a grand flourish.   
  
That's when I felt the tug on my arm. I turned around and it was Bumlets. I rushed towards his arms, but he prevented me and pointed to the seating area where all our friends were sitting in couples happy. "And why can't we be like them?" he asked. I shrugged not knowing the answer. "Come with me." We walked back to the lodging house. Then we climbed up to the roof and sat with our feet dangling over the edge. We'd left the party in a somber mood. Bumlets sat quietly, staring at the city lights. There was no sunrise this time. "You don't have to leave."  
  
"I don't belong here," I replied to the side of his face.  
  
"It's gonna be a long night," he said, swinging his legs. His shoes made loud thumps against the side of the building.  
  
"Excuse me?"  
  
He fell back against the roof so that he was lying on his back looking at the stars, but he didn't answer. "What are you talking about?" I asked again.  
  
"Obviously you can't leave. You're stuck here. You don't really know how you got here and you don't know how to get back. You DO belong here. We're all a bunch of misfits; does it really matter what year we were born? We're not leaving the roof until you figure that out."   
  
And so it went, we argued for hours. It hurt him that I was so eager to get back. Now that I was, I'm just not a huge fan of changes. Especially big ones that take away modern comforts such as deodorant, heavy metal/alternative, and daily showers. "I don't really wanna go," I finally admitted and Bumlets shot straight up into a sitting position.  
  
"Then don't."  
  
I leaned my head against his shoulder and sighed. "Fine." He started laughing. 


End file.
